Makers of rechargeable batteries are vying to help stop you from tossing dead batteries. Which is brand and technology is the best?

How many batteries do you and your family use and throw away? According to the Environmental Protection Agency , Americans buy 3 million gadget batteries per year—and the average person tosses more than eight of them. If you’re in a family of gadget fans like my family, you probably use more. At times, I think we consume more batteries than food. But recently, we stopped throwing batteries away.

Instead of buying disposable batteries that can be used only once before disposal, we’re now using rechargeable cells that can be topped off and reused hundreds of times. Every time I recharge them, it means fewer batteries end up sitting in landfills.

This decision wasn’t just a green one. Though there’s a hefty upfront investment for rechargeables, it does make sense economically. With a four-pack of rechargeable AA batteries including the charger selling for around $30, the rechargeable system pays for itself quickly.

You will probably break even after roughly four months of use if you recharge a pair of AAs every week. I don’t know about you, but between remote controls, music players, and flashlights we use much more than that in a week at my house.

But even the rechargeables won’t last forever. Most rechargeable batteries can be renewed somewhere between 300 and 1,000 times, depending on the chemicals used to store the electricity. That amounts to many years of weekly use.

Don’t worry about the effect of the battery charger on your electric bill . Most chargers use just a few watts – less electricity than a child’s night light. Worst case scenario: weekly charging could add up to 13 cents a year to your bill.

That power has to come from somewhere, and in the U.S., chances are that your local power station is burning coal or natural gas to generate the electricity that contributes to global warming.  All told, sustainability non-profit organization Cleaner and Greener estimates that amount of power equals about 2 pounds of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere per year. As far as greenhouse gases go, this is much less of a cost to the environment than the dumping of 100 more pairs of disposable AA batteries would be.

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