When batteries don't work any more and we have forgotten the rechargeables, we should throw them away, right?

Wrong. Batteries are one of the worst things that can be dumped into a landfill, so you need to find a place to recycle them in your neighborhood. But they're so small and it's so much trouble that you just never quite get around to it. So those discarded batteries pile up in the kitchen drawer, don't they?

Before you end up throwing them out and feeling guilty about it, consider Energy Seed, an invention that powers street lights by siphoning what remains from recycled batteries. 

Even when batteries don't work any more, they actually have some juice left. It's not enough to power what they did before, but put together with enough other used-up batteries, it could be enough to power an efficient LED.

What if you could drop off your old batteries at an Energy Seed recycling system on any street corner? You'd slip the used batteries down the tube of Energy Seed (like seeding the ground; hence the name), and once enough batteries were lined up they would light the LED on top.

If anyone wants to market this excellent idea, contact South Korean designer Sung Woo Park, who created Energy Seed.

It might work even better marketed as a porch light for your front door. Then you could just by one at Home Depot. 

In any case, it's a better way of disposing of old batteries than just tossing them out.