Battery recycling made easy

Archived press release

Date Published: 18/02/10

Aylesbury Vale residents are now able to recycle old batteries in thousands of shops across the country as part of a new EU law to reduce the amount of batteries we send to landfill.

Under the EU Batteries Directive, retailers selling more than a pack of batteries a day will now have to offer in store battery recycling collection points. This new legislation will make it easier for consumers to do the right thing, whilst ensuring retailers fulfil their part of the bargain.

The UK currently only recycles about three per cent of portable batteries, but the aim is to raise that figure to 45 per cent by 2016. Britons use over 600 million batteries every year – an average of 21 per household. At present, a massive 97 per cent eventually end up in landfill sites, where they can leak toxic chemicals into the soil. The EU Batteries Directive aims to tackle this problem and cut carbon emissions by reducing the need for new batteries to be made from scratch.

Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Robert Dyas, Dixon’s, Curry’s and PC World are among shops offering free battery recycling.

What else can you do?
• Use rechargeable batteries wherever possible - you can even buy a solar powered recharger!
• Plug electrical equipment into the mains electricity.
• Try to buy appliances that use renewable energy: a wind-up radio or torch, dynamo bicycle lights or a solar powered calculator.