Ironically in my area at least (NC) this is handled better in my parent's rural area than it is in the [small] city where I live with city garbage and recycling pick up. In their county (which is all rural) each community has a small facility that collects garbage and recycling, and each facility has collection bins for electronics, batteries, florescent bulbs, etc. I just googled to see what I'm supposed to do with these items, and apparently the city holds a "hazardous waste day" once a year which is usually a madhouse... so I'm guessing that 75+% of that stuff ends up in the normal garbage.
I'm from NC as well, and moved from a major city to a rural area. For me, both have similar disposal options. In the city, you had to go to a trash drop-off center to dispose of batteries (same place you'd take used oil or other hazardous waste, as well as regular trash or even yard debris). I think the difference is, in the city you have trash pickup and can't just toss batteries in with the trash or recycle. Whereas out in the country you have to take everything to a drop-off center, so you're probably more likely to dispose of batteries properly since you don't need to take an extra trip to do so.
Yeah, there's quite a few smaller municipalities that hold a hazard day or a e-waste collection day. But yeah, they're normally crazy. I wish there were more common collection areas, especially for batteries. Post offices or libraries with collection boxes that are "safe" would be great. Boxes that won't melt, will vent pressure, and maybe filled with a bunch of sand that the batteries get buried in.
Also there's a ton of e-waste that's still usable! e-waste days at regular intervals where people could trade could result in a lot of stuff being reused.
