Household battery recycling facilities are here!
New facilities to recycle household batteries are now in place at all Recycling Centres across Highland. This include AAA batteries normally used for TV remote controls and AA batteries used for children’s toys. Research shows that the average household uses 21 batteries per year which sadly means that approximately 600million are sent to landfill in the UK every year – that’s the equivalent weight of 110 Jumbo Jets!
The Highland Council’s Chairman of TEC Services, Councillor John Laing said “this is excellent news so soon after the recent Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) recycling facilities have been introduced. Batteries contain heavy metals can present a risk to health, safety and the environment when disposed of in landfill sites. Providing such facilities will help dispose of such toxic chemicals in a safe manner.
Although we strongly encourage people to use re-chargable batteries instead of the disposable ones, we hope that everyone will take full advantage of the new facilities. The current recycling rate for Highland is 33% but this must rise to 40% by the end of this year. The new facilities will help towards meeting this target”.
The new regulations require that 25% of all portable domestic batteries sold are recycled by 2012, rising to 45% by 2016. The current collection rate in the UK is estimated to be around 2.3%. Retailers selling batteries such as supermarkets, local hardware stores, and electrical stores will have to provide recycling collection facilities in-store. It is now the legal responsibility of battery producers to fund such battery collection schemes. This means that there will be more places where you can take your old batteries for recycling.
What type of batteries can be recycled?
All household battery types will be collected and recycled including re-chargeable, non-rechargeable and battery packs from electronic and electrical equipment. It doesn’t matter if the batteries are full, completely discharged or only part used. Batteries that can be recycled are those which are:
- Single cell household batteries, such as AA, AAA, button and ‘square’ batteries used for items such as torches, clocks, shavers, radios, personal stereo’s, watches and calculators.
- Mobile phones, laptop computers, cordless power tools, toys and household appliances batteries.
- Used for hearing aids, pacemakers and photographic equipment.
Please note that this does not include car or other vehicle batteries however there are separate facilities to recycle these at most Recycling Centres. Contact us by using the details below for more information about which Recycling Centres accept these items.
Although the new battery recycling facilities will help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill there are ways you can avoid using batteries in the first place: -
- Use the mains when possible.
- Use rechargeable batteries - this saves energy because the energy needed to manufacture a battery is on average 50 times greater than the energy it gives out.
- Opt for appliances that can use power derived from the sun via solar panels or from a winding mechanism, e.g. radios, mobile phone wind-up chargers.