WRAP Launches the Biggest Kerbside Household Battery Collection Trial in the UK

WRAP are working in partnership with a range of local authorities and not-for-profit organisations that already run recycling collection services. The trials will initially cover over 350,000 households in a mixture of high-rise, urban and rural areas across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Each household will receive an information leaflet and dedicated collection containers (either sealable bags or small boxes), giving full details of the scheme in advance of the first collection date. They will then be asked to put their container of spent and unwanted batteries out along with other recyclable materials as part of their normal recycling collection scheme.

The containers will show the types of household batteries that can be collected which include AAA and AA cells, sizes C and D, button, mobile phone and laptop batteries. Iconic images, striking colours and positive messages will be used on the leaflets and bags to encourage a high impact response. A national customer helpline will be available should people have any queries.

Chris Davey, Manager Local Authority Relations, WRAP said:

“This is the biggest household battery recycling initiative ever run in the UK. We know that the average household uses about 21 batteries a year and that around 600 million UK household batteries are sent to landfill every year. By making battery recycling simple and easy we hope to encourage people to recycle all their old household batteries rather than throwing them away.”

Supported by funding from Defra through the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) Programme and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the trials form part of a wider effort to develop cost-effective ways for the UK to meet the forthcoming EU Batteries Directive which is expected to require the collection of 25% of household batteries by 2012. The results of the various trials will be used to help Government identify the best mechanisms and most efficient methods of collection for rolling out across the UK.

G&P Batteries Ltd, the UK’s largest waste battery collection and recycling company will act as the recycler for the scheme. G&P recently opened the UK’s first recycling plant for the most common single use batteries. Other battery chemistries (types) will be sorted and sent to specialist recycling companies around Europe.

The trial is likely to be extended in the future to include other methods of collecting used household batteries such as via ‘drop off’ points at supermarkets.