Batteries
Most of us use batteries in our day-to-day lives. From portable batteries like AAA cells and those in our mobile phones or hearing aids to the ones used to start our car or van engines, most of us would have difficulty conducting our lives without batteries.
Used in portable cameras, cordless power tools and children's toys, batteries can be of mixed sizes and compositions. All, however, contain various types of metal and chemicals. When we finish with our batteries many of their contents (which are of high monetary value) can be used again and should be recycled. Recycling can also save some of the earth's natural resources and save on CO2 emissions by reducing the need to mine new materials. Additionally, if we dispose of our batteries in the middle of our normal rubbish, they are likely to end up in landfill where the chemicals they contain may leak into the ground. In particular, lead and mercury can pollute the soil and water and may potentially harm the health of both humans and animals.
Recycling batteries can be an action that everyone can get involved in. At any age we can make a difference by recycling our batteries. A 12 year old from Cornwall is fronting a campaign to persuade school children to recycle their batteries. Ollie Osman, from Falmouth in Cornwall, stars in and narrates a 3 minute film, which follows the journey of a battery from Ollie’s home to school and then on to France. The film is part of a major push to encourage children to help meet recycling targets. The campaign, devised by European Recycling Platform (ERP), is one of the UK’s largest battery recycling schemes. Click here to watch Ollie in action.
The European Union is aware of the importance of recycling batteries and has set targets to encourage the recycling of all types of batteries (portable, industrial and automotive). Further information on the characterisation of batteries can be found by following the batteries link on the DOE website. However, a helpful rule of thumb is that a battery is likely to be portable if it will fit easily into your hand, industrial if used exclusively for industrial or professional use or automotive if it is used for the starting or ignition of an engine of a road-going vehicle.
Retailers and Distributors
Producers of all these types of battery have various obligations to help make batteries more environmentally friendly, however, from 1 Feb 2010, new regulations will help us all dispose of used batteries (including rechargeable ones) in a way that can help save resources and protect our environment.
Any shop or supermarket that sells over 32kg of batteries annually will be required to provide clearly labelled collection bins for used portable batteries. There will be no charge for this facility nor any requirement for the batteries to have been bought at that store. Posters for use by distributors have been designed to help distributors of portable batteries inform customers about their waste portable battery take-back service. Click here to download the poster. Householders may find this more accessible than visiting their local civic amenity site (although these facilities should be used for automotive and industrial batteries).
Businesses and homeowners in Northern Ireland are well on the way to meeting the European target in relation to recycling automotive batteries, but we can all make considerable improvements in relation to other types.
Further information on how these obligations affect your business and where you can access recycling facilities for your batteries can be found at NI Direct.
