How do Forum members dispose of used AA batteries safely?

As I have mentioned before, I have a responsibility of care for my mother here at home. I take EVERY precaution when dealing with potential fire hazards, as it would be reasonably impossible for me to remove momma from the house, should a major fire break-out. Therefore, I am VERY concerned about battery disposal when I am putting fresh batteries in my detector(s). What I have BEEN doing is to line up the four used batteries on a roughly 8 inch piece of duct tape.....with all negative poles down......positive poles up.......and then taping up the batteries like this. So that there will be no chance that the poles will come in contact with each other......potentially causing a spark. Am I "going to far"???? Seems like I used to just throw dead AA batteries in the trash can in the kitchen and not give them a second thought. But I find myself being VERY cautious about preventing conditions favorable to sparks and/or fire.....or even heat.
All of this came to my mind when I took out 'dead' AA batteries out of my detector and putting the dead batteries in my pocket. I installed fresh ones. I continued detecting. My pocket became very hot as the batteries shifted around in my pocket and positive pole of one AA battery came in contact with positive (or) negative pole ( I forgot most of what I know about OHM'S Law....). Anyway, something happened in my front pocket where those weak batteries where and it got HOT. I reached dug into my pocket and pulled those hot batteries out! Yes, they where hot! I put them in an empty skoal can and stuffed a poke sallet leaf in there with them until I got back to muy car.......as I didn't want to bury them and cause a potential forest fire.
Woo! That was the long way of asking......."How do you discard old AA batteries.....or any small batteries......including the square 9V ones that go in our pinpointers???????????????? Thanks in advance. Sorry about my wordiness.

The same as my dead goldfish, ok just a little levity.

An emergency fire starting method is to use a piece of steel wool between the + and - poles of a battery, so it seems reasonable to be cautious as you are. Better safe than sorry.

@Kevin Batteries get recycled,... some tape never hurt anything.
We've got fuel, oil, batteries anywhere and everywhere in the shop.
Keep containers closed and positive poles shielded when not in use.

Have seen a few machines try set themselves on fire because of a sticking solenoid, mostly the wires heat up and short circuit each other.
With factory installed wire harnesses nothing ever happens.
When average joe thinks he's an electric engineer,... sparks try to fly,... but it usually kills a very essential, very expensive part!

No harm in being a little paranoid where fire is concerned.

HH
Johnb

Kevin,

I don't use disposable AA anymore, but the 9v each get a piece of tape over the contacts end.

I've seen shorted batteries overheat many times, and nearly cause fires. Some chemistries allow for a very high short circuit current.
I don't think you're being paranoid, at all.

I worked for a company years ago, that used nicad AA's in the product. A new inventory control person decided they were expensive, and needed kept in 'the cage'...
So she dumped a couple hundred fully charged AA's into a metal bin 'to keep them safe'.
After the fire department gave us the 'all clear' to go back into the building, we got to see the damage that all the heat and smoke from the shorted batteries had caused.
It had, of course, completely destroyed all ot the batteries, as well as the metal bin.


mike

Kevin I usually dig them up a couple of years later....Not really....Trash can taped together and across the top. Ya haven't lived until something got hot in your pocket!

I appreciate the replies guys! I'll keep doing my tape thing. I think that I will get a roll of black electrician's tape and place a piece across the positive poles along with taping batteries together with (+) poles in same direction. Thanks y'all!!!! Happy Detecting. kevin

I just throw them in the garbage...I guess thats wrong?

I only use Li-ion or Ni-Cd rechargeables ... if they are thrown out they are dead ... no fire worries.

Like deathray , I just throw them away but when I do , they're completely dead because I recharge them,,,,even the alkaline.
The new computer controlled chargers do a pretty fair job of restoring a charge to the alkaline batteries even if it's not perfect. Might be something to check into if you're going through a lot of them. I figure with the amazing battery life in my F75v2 a set of Duracells should last about 300 hours before I'll have to can them if the current trend continues. You do lose a little each time but if there's one thing that's not hard to find it's people throwing away perfectly good alkaline batteries that you can recharge and have zero initial investment in them. I have been disappointed with recharging the alkaline 9v batteries as they're hard to get back to 9v but all the others have worked well. I do recommend letting them sit for a day before reusing them due to possible leakage but the few that have leaked were minimal and easy to cull. These newer chargers drain the batteries first and then recharge them at a rate which prevents them heating up.

I have a AA battery charger that came with my Racer Pro Pack. I'll try recharging as that sounds like a great idea. Thanks. And thanks for all of the other replies as well. Great forum. kevin