Instead of throwing away your old batteries, you can cash in on them. Most batteries contain certain metals including lead, nickel and cobalt. These can be extracted from old. Some batteries contain lead, which is extremely toxic and heavy. In fact, some recycling companies will not accept these batteries for recycling. As mentioned, most batteries are made up of lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, manganese and other metals that can be extracted from them for recycling. Therefore, if you have old car batteries and.