Not in curbside trash or curbside recycling if it has a built-in lithium cell — a crushed cell starts fires in collection trucks. Retailer take-back and battery drop-off are the two routes that exist everywhere.
The reason is mechanical rather than regulatory. A lithium cell that is punctured or crushed can go into thermal runaway, and a garbage truck or a sorting facility is a machine whose entire purpose is crushing. That is why these tools are handled separately, and it is the same reason they are not allowed in a checked bag loose.
Which of your tools this applies to. Not all of them. Most cordless tools here have a sealed lithium cell and are in this category. But five of the twelve nose and ear trimmers run on a replaceable AA or AAA — in which case the cell comes out and goes to battery collection, and the tool itself is ordinary electronics. And the ROYAL at $16 has no battery at all: it is turned by hand, so there is nothing to separate.
The two routes.
Retailer take-back. Many retailers accept an old appliance when a new one is bought, and the one that sold you the replacement is the first to ask. It costs nothing and it is the only route where somebody else does the sorting.
Battery and electronics drop-off. Hardware and electronics chains commonly run collection bins for loose batteries, and most counties run a household hazardous waste or electronics day. Your own county’s waste service is the authority on what it takes and when — the rules are genuinely local, and they change.
What not to do, in one line: do not put a cordless grooming tool in the recycling bin because it is mostly plastic and metal. The cell decides where it goes, not the housing.
One thing worth doing first. Take off any attachment that fits another tool you own. Guide combs, a cutting comb, a cape, a case — those are not electrical waste and they outlive the machine. The SH30 and SH71 head references are the clearest case: the heads fit a code pattern rather than one body, so an unopened spare is worth keeping if you are replacing the shaver with another in the same range.
Check your own manual before you follow anything here. Temperatures, water ratings and supply voltages differ from model to model, and the maker’s own figures take precedence over anything written on this site. A supply of the wrong voltage is a failure rather than a slow charge, and the figure is printed on the tool — not inferred from a connector that happens to fit.
Prices quoted in this text were read on October 10, 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.
Last reviewed October 10, 2026