To have a Power Wheels battery recycled, first remove it from the toy car and take it to one of these local stores which include Best Buy, Lowes, and Home Depot. They will have a collection area where you can drop off the batteries at which time they will dispose of them.
Did you know that the average rechargeable battery lifespan for a Power Wheel is about 2-4 years? I am not sure if you are aware, but a Power Wheels Battery can be recycled.
Let’s find out how!
Benefits of Recycling Power Wheels Battery
Recycling an old Power Wheels battery is a great way to reduce the amount of waste in our landfills and protect the environment. Recycling rechargeable batteries also provide a source of raw materials that can be used to make new products.
Rechargeable batteries contain precious metals like copper, nickel, and zinc, which can be reclaimed and used again.
According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), about 80% of batteries are not recycled. That is truly sad! Fortunately, there are many places that accept old batteries for recycling.
Here are some more benefits:
- Recycling batteries prevents them from ending up in landfills.
- It saves energy and natural resources that would have been used to make new batteries.
- Batteries contain toxic chemicals, so recycling them helps keep our environment safe.
- Recycling batteries prevents them from leaking toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater.
- Recycling a single car battery can conserve enough energy to power a TV for 3 months!
Easy Ways to Recycle Power Wheels & Ride-On Batteries
The first thing you need to do if you would like to recycle your ride-on battery finds a store that will accept it. You can take your Power Wheel battery and the charger.
Most places will also accept the rest of the electronics from inside the car. If they do it is best to give them all the interior wires, motors, and circuit boards so they can all be recycled properly.
It’s best to prepare before this. Once you notice the battery is about to fail, you can purchase a new battery.
Make sure to disconnect the rechargeable battery.
Your used Power Wheel and the ride-on battery can be recycled in many locations. Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Best Buy are a few of these establishments.
Simply bring your used battery to the store, and staff members will dispose of it for you. Send it to one of these nearby local sites for free drop-off.
I can vouch for their reliability because I’ve had prior interactions with the stores.
Take the battery and charger from your toy to be recycled. Remember to save your charger if you’re getting the same battery because you can recycle it together with the battery if you do. If you’re getting a different battery, however, hold onto your charger.
How do you Recycle Power Wheels or Ride-On Car?
Once you have removed the battery, you are left with the rest of the car. Now, what do you do with this part?
Well, the best way to get rid of it is to put it on eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace for $10-$20. A lot of people are looking for these so they can modify the toy car to go faster.
You can also donate them at Goodwill or Salvation Army.
If that doesn’t work for you the next thing is to actually recycle it. Easier said than done. Unfortunately, these kids’ toys have so many different types of plastic to create them the majority of recycling centers will not accept them.
Here is more information on how to recycle toys. It is recommended that each brand have a recycling center. This is all the information I could find for Power Wheels.
How to Buy a New Battery for Power Wheels
Just like other rechargeable items, you can buy new batteries for your Power Wheels and replace them without buying a whole new vehicle. You will want to recycle the old one and purchase a brand-new one.
You can find this battery in our full replacement battery and charger guide.
This is an awesome time to upgrade your Power Wheels to go faster and give it more power as well since you will need to replace the battery anyway. If you ever considered modifying your Power Wheels this is one of the more cost-efficient ways of doing it.
The most cost-efficient way is not to buy any battery and use the existing batteries you have. There are many battery alternatives that may work for you.
The main two types of batteries is a lead-acid battery or lithium-ion battery. Lead acid is more like car batteries whereas lithium-ion is for toys or cell phones but is expanding to larger things like batteries for homes.
My favorite battery alternative is if you have old power tools that no longer work but you still have the battery packs with them. This modification is called a drill battery conversion and is very simple to do.
A drill battery conversion also gives a considerable boost to both speed and power.
Conclusion
There are so many toys with batteries in the world and most of them make it to the trash and are never recycled.
Remember that recycling is an environmentally friendly way to fix an old battery. Help keep landfills down, always recycle Power Wheel and ride on batteries!
Explore more of the awesome benefits that ride-on cars offer.
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