Trying to throw my old batteries

I have been trying to get rid of my single use batteries. I know it is a fire hazard to keep them too long at home so I wrap them up and keep in in my bag. It is tempting to throw them in the dustbin but somehow, I just can't bring myself to do it. Before my bag gets set ablaze and I start lugging a ton of batteries to and fro the office, I have decided to find a better way of getting rid of my single use batteries, of which, I have a lot as the children's toys these days don't have windups- a remote control suv with an automatic bubble blower requires 8 AA batteries- someone gave it to my kid. The batteries expired after one evening. I HAVE switched to rechargeables, mind you.

Anyway, in a somewhat rare exercise of eco-friendly effort (not that I am not eco-friendly; but this is quite pro-active lah), I have decided to find out what is the best way to do this in modern Singapore. Let me know promptly if you have a protocol. Haven't found it yet but I found this little movie review on "Wrapped in Green" at the Ecomove-2003 awards website. Read on..

"Wrapped in Green"

Kemig Zhang, China/Japan 2002, 16 mins., documentary
(nominated by Earth Vision, Japan)

A little Chinese boy in the film "Wrapped in Green" says: environmental pollution is not seeing the stars in the sky. Ms Tian Gui Rong is selling batteries in a polluted Chinese provincial town. When she reads in the news paper that a single battery can pollute the amount of drinking water a person needs during his whole life, she decides to do it: she starts to collect the used batteries with her bicycle. Due to a lack of other possibilities, she stores them in her own house. A modern female Sisyphus, who does not only fight against the carelessness of the government, but also against her own family. Her husband threatens to divorce her. Wrapped in Green is as simply told as it is touching. The film shows a battle against ignorance and carelessness towards nature. Ms Ruang is a role model. At the end of the film, we see how little children are throwing old batteries wrapped in paper into Ms Rong's green bucket. A sign of hope."