In this guide: why recycling a heated apparel battery is harder than it should be · what EcoDispose is and what it costs · which batteries qualify, by brand and voltage · the four-step mail-in process · what happens to the battery afterward · when to recycle yours.

Every heated vest and heated hoodie runs on a lithium battery, and every lithium battery eventually wears out. That leaves owners with a small problem almost nobody plans for: what do you do with a dead battery you are not supposed to throw away?

Most of them end up in a junk drawer for years. EcoDispose exists to solve exactly that.

Why Is Recycling a Heated Apparel Battery So Hard?

Lithium batteries cannot go in household trash, and most people have nowhere convenient to take them. That is the whole problem in one sentence.

You know better than to toss a lithium block in the bin, so it goes in the drawer with the old cables and the dead power banks. And it sits there. The alternative is tracking down a hazardous-waste drop-off or a specialty recycler and making a special trip, which is just enough friction that most people never get around to it.

The result is predictable. Batteries that should be recycled end up in landfills or in limbo in a kitchen drawer.

The barrier was never that people do not care. It is that doing the right thing was made inconvenient.

What Is EcoDispose?

EcoDispose is EarthBae's free battery recycling program, and its defining feature is that it is brand-agnostic. It takes back any 7.4V heated apparel battery, not only EarthBae's.

You request a prepaid mail-in label, package the dead battery, and hand it to your mail carrier. No drop-off, no fee, no requirement to buy anything. EarthBae covers the logistics and routes the battery to a certified recycling partner.

The thinking behind it is simple. EarthBae puts battery-powered gear into the world, so EarthBae takes responsibility for what happens to that battery at the end of its life, regardless of whose logo is on it.

Which Batteries Qualify for EcoDispose?

EcoDispose accepts 7.4V lithium batteries from heated apparel. Because 7.4V is the common standard across the category, that covers batteries from most major heated apparel brands.

Eligible brands include:

  • ORORO
  • Gobi Heat
  • Venustas
  • Techniche
  • Volt
  • Venture Heat
  • Gerbing
  • DEWBU

The one limit that matters is voltage. EcoDispose is built for the 7.4V batteries used in heated clothing, so higher-voltage tool-brand batteries are a different standard and are not eligible.

How Does the Free Mail-In Process Work?

The whole thing takes a few minutes and zero trips:

  • Request a prepaid shipping label through the EcoDispose page
  • Package the dead 7.4V battery safely for shipping
  • Hand the package to your mail carrier or drop it at any postal location
  • EarthBae covers the shipping and routes it to a certified recycler

That is the entire program.

You do not drive anywhere, you do not pay anything, and you do not need to have bought your gear from EarthBae. Full details and the label request are on the EcoDispose page.

What Actually Happens to the Battery After You Send It?

It goes to a certified hazardous-waste recycling partner, not a warehouse shelf and not a landfill.

There, the batteries are safely dismantled and their materials, including the lithium and other metals, are recovered so they can be refined and reused rather than mined again.

That is the entire point of recycling a lithium battery instead of discarding it. The materials inside are valuable and finite, and keeping them in circulation keeps them out of the ground and out of the waste stream.

When Should You Recycle a Heated Apparel Battery?

Once it no longer holds a useful charge. For most batteries that is after 300 to 500 charge cycles, or roughly 2 to 4 years of regular seasonal use.

The signal is a clear drop in runtime. A battery that used to carry a full day now fades by mid-afternoon. At that point you replace the battery, not the garment, and send the worn one to EcoDispose.

You do not have to wait for a battery to be completely dead, either. If you have an unreliable battery from an old vest sitting in a drawer right now, it qualifies today.

Does EcoDispose Matter for Businesses and Bulk Buyers?

For organizations that outfit teams in heated gear, EcoDispose answers a question that is quietly becoming a procurement requirement: what is the end-of-life plan for the batteries?

Warehouses, outdoor-work crews, event staff, and facilities teams that issue heated apparel at scale accumulate batteries that will all eventually need responsible disposal. A free, documented take-back program takes that liability off the buyer's plate.

As workplace and environmental rules around e-waste and battery disposal tighten, having a recycling path built into the gear is increasingly a reason to choose one supplier over another. For bulk and B2B inquiries, the EcoDispose page is the place to start.

A battery recycling program is not the flashiest thing a heated apparel brand can offer. It might be the most honest.

It closes the loop on the one part of the product that outlives its usefulness, it costs the owner nothing, and it works for any 7.4V battery regardless of where it came from. Buy the gear, wear it for years, replace the battery when it is spent, and send the old one somewhere it will actually be dealt with.

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Heated Vest TSA Airport Security Guide — flying with a heated apparel battery, and the rules that apply. 

How to Wash a Heated Vest: The Definitive Maintenance Guide — battery out first, every time. (/blogs/journal/how-to-wash-heated-vest-hoodie-maintenance)

Temperature Regulating Clothing: What It Is (2026) — where powered apparel fits in the wider category.

Published July 21, 2026