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Whether you rely on an old-school Walkman to tend to your musical needs or a battery-eating digital camera for snapshots, there's no need for your mode of entertainment to stock landfills. Now that battery rechargers are cheap and small enough, there's little reason to buy single-use batteries again. The savings: 500 to 1,000 disposable batteries for each rechargeable.

Consumer Reports recommends nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries for handheld music players and games. And recent advances have resulted in "hybrid" NiMHs which come powered up and lose their charges much less quickly than other NiMHs.

Hybrid NiMHs
Duracell AAA and AA 4-packs ($20.69; www.duracelldirect.com)

Rayovac Hybrid AAA and AA 4-pack ($15.58; www.amazon.com)

Sanyo Eneloop AAA 4-pack ($14.99) and AA 8-pack ($29.99; www.nationalgeographic.com/store)

Rechargers
Rechargers come in two flavors: traditional slower units that power up batteries in three to four hours and more expensive "zap" rechargers that can bring a battery back to life in 15 to 30 minutes (though they can be harder on the battery, potentially reducing its lifespan).

Energizer charger for C, D, AA, AAA and 9 Volt NiMH batteries ($29.99, www.batteriesdirect.com)

Sanyo Eneloop Battery Recharger for AA and AAA NiMH batteries ($29.99; www.nationalgeographic.com/store)

Super-Quick Worldwide Battery Charger (w/4 AA NiMH batteries) ($23.99; www.amazon.com).

Rayovac Universal Battery Charger for Rechargeable AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-Volt Batteries ($24.74; www.buyhardwaresupplies.com)

Vanson V-3969 AA/AAA/9V NiMH and NiCd Battery Charger ($14.95; www.sundancesolar.com)

Disposal
Since rechargeable batteries contain heavy metals—including nickel, cadmium, lithium and lead—they must be treated as hazardous waste to avoid being landfilled or incinerated. For proper disposal, see www.rbrc.org.