I replaced a lithium ion battery in a device and the old battery is swollen/bulging but no otherwise damaged.
My municipality (NYC) requires many retailers to accept batteries or devices containing them but I am concerned that none of them can safely handle a damaged battery. I asked one retailer if they would accept my damaged battery and they told me that they would simply throw it away (which is expressly prohibited by city law) because they have no way to safely store or handle damaged batteries.
I have read from various sources that immersing the battery in salt water for an extended period of time (ranging from 1 day to 2 weeks!) will discharge the battery and that lithium (ion?) batteries that have been completely discharged can be safely thrown away with household trash.
But then other sources claim that the salt water can corrode the contacts of the battery's cells sufficiently to prevent complete discharge, thus rendering the battery both not completely discharged (and thus capable of thermal conflagration) and not capable of being discharged by any means.
So how could I safely dispose of a damaged lithium ion battery myself?
The NYC Special Waste Drop-Off Sites seem like my best bet in terms of someone else safely disposing of the battery but the info about those sites on the city's websites are worryingly vague or silent about whether they accept damaged batteries.
I don't want to assume that any of the organizations or institutions that are legally required to accept batteries are capable of safely doing so for my damaged battery. Given that one retailer has already told me that they would (illegally) dispose of the damaged battery, I'd like to know how to safely dispose of the battery, or at least render it (mostly) inert, myself.
Here's a very related question:
A bunch of example links: