Quite often you can ring up the city council and they'll either come and pick them up or tell you where you can take them (politely, that is!). Or you could do a tinterweb search for facilities in your area?
Frustratingly, I believe it's actually illegal to throw away alkaline batteries, but difficult to dispose of them properly. At least I'm pretty sure that's the case in Medford.
Practically, I think a lot of people think "dispose of properly" means "in the garbage" and not "I dunno, throw it into a fire or something".
Thanks for the tips, everyone!