Perhaps a used battery purchase scheme would be a good solution? There is some value to the used batteries, if the city paid a premium over that, the problem would most likely decrease significantly. By paying more per kilo for the larger batteries (which pose the greatest risk of injury), city workers would be much safer. The city could even create a market for the recycled Lithium by requiring its use in equipment supplied to the city
I think that’s a great idea but speaking from personal experience with family and friends, the biggest obstacle seems to be effort. Especially for sufficiently well-off individuals, it isn’t financial motivation but rather having clear, easily accessible, and widely known alternatives that require minimum extra effort or travel that would probably do more to alleviate situation.
I would like to think that the well off would behave in a manner similar to how people in Germany who can't be bothered taking their bottles back for pfand do: They leave them beside the bin where people who want to can collect them and cash them in
