Nearly 700 million household batteries are sold in the UK every year and most quickly end up in landfill sites. Many of these batteries contain toxic or corrosive metals. When disposed of incorrectly, these heavy metals may leak into the ground when the battery casing corrodes. This can contribute to soil and water pollution and endanger wildlife. Cadmium, for example, can be toxic to aquatic invertebrates and can bio-accumulate in fish, which damages ecosystems and makes the fish unfit for human consumption.
A dry cell battery requires 50 times more energy to make than it will ever give out. Some countries such as Sweden and Japan collect batteries separately as hazardous waste, this is not often the case in the UK but it is good practice to limit the number going to landfill sites.
The UK generates 20,000 - 30,000 tons of waste general purpose batteries every year, but less than 1,000 tons are used as BATTERY RECYCLE. We can all do our little share to reduce household battery waste and recycle it as a BATTERY RECYCLE.
Using Recycled Battery
* A battery might have run out of energy to power large items but there might be enough power for smaller items. Television remote controls are a good destination for old batteries, because they need little power to work.
* Battery Recycle is difficult because of the metals involved. Although more than 98% of British batteries now contain no heavy metals.
* At Hill Park Court use the recycling points in the local service areas for non functioning mobile phone batteries.
* Where available, participate in local authority battery collection schemes. If you council does not provide one at the moment, contact them and find out if they are planning to do so in future.
* New legislation also now requires some manufacturers of electronic equipment to run free take back schemes. Where such a scheme is available send the batteries back to manufacturers for recycling or reprocessing.


