Many places already have weekly/biweekly pickup for single-stream glass/plastic/paper/aluminum recycling - is there any fundamental reason that batteries couldn't be added to the stream?
How many batteries do you dispose of in a week? In a month? In a year?
I have a lot of battery powered devices, but it would take me a year to fill even a grocery bag with discarded batteries (with the exception of the occasional car or UPS battery swap every couple of years). But I generally use rechargeable batteries.
We're talking about curbside pickup. There's men who lift the buckets and put them in trucks. Then humans help sort them at facilities. The worst thing about recycling now is mostly leftover organics and sharp lids.
I have a lot of battery powered devices, but it would take me a year to fill even a grocery bag with discarded batteries (with the exception of the occasional car or UPS battery swap every couple of years). But I generally use rechargeable batteries.