The Isle of Wight Council is inviting Island households to make a positive difference to the environment by using its new household battery recycling scheme, which launches today (Monday).
Householders can now leave their spent household batteries out for collection with their general waste (black bins/black gull-proof sacks).
All the batteries collected by the crews will be placed in a special box fitted to the collection vehicles and sent for sorting and processing. Metals and chemicals will be extracted and used to make new batteries and other products.
To ensure the batteries are kept separate to other household general waste, batteries should be placed safely and separately on top of your closed black bin or gull-proof sack in their own clear sandwich-sized bag.
You can recycle small batteries of all shapes via the scheme. These typically include AA, AAA, of any size, small round (watch type batteries) and square batteries, and old rechargeable household batteries. Batteries must always be removed from electrical items before being collected though.
Large batteries such as laptop/phone/power tool batteries and car batteries or items where the batteries cannot be removed should be taken to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Cabinet lead for environment and waste management, said:
“In partnership with our waste operator, Amey Waste Treatment, I am pleased to announce our new battery collection service.
Article continues below this advertisement “According to recent figures by Let’s Recycle, around 600 million batteries reach the end of their usable life and become waste each year in the UK.
“More people are now recycling batteries at their local supermarkets or shops but we hope that this will make it easier for people to dispose of them responsibly at the kerbside on waste collection day too and make even more of a positive difference to our environment.”
Recent incidents show that batteries thrown into ordinary bins, household waste or with other recycling are extremely dangerous. They can easily get squashed, compacted, punctured, shredded or soaked in liquids. When this happens, they can ignite, resulting in fires that endanger lives, cause expensive damage and disrupt waste services.
Natasha Dix, the council’s waste and environment manager, has said:
“The introduction of kerbside household collection is a great step for our environment and for the safety of our people who may handle these.
“Many people may not realise that up to 90 per cent of a standard household battery can be recycled. Some have potentially toxic metals in them such as cadmium, lead and, historically, mercury.
“Diverting these metals from landfill and recycling them instead is important to ensure the metals don’t leak out of landfills and pollute our drinking water. In the recycling process, metals and chemicals are extracted and then used to make new batteries and other products.”
More information about household battery disposal can be found here.
Excellent idea. Thank you
This is something shops have been doing for years. Most shops that sell batteries have a container that customers can put their used batteries into. Hurst’s have one in every store for a start, so this is just the council “bigging” themselves up and trying to, once again, justify the massive increase in council tax.
Wha you have to remember is that there is a long ingrained culture within the Council of coming up with faddy and new ways to spend our Council Tax, at the same time pleading ‘poverty’ and cutting PROPER services!
I get the feeling that no matter how beneficial a council program is, some would find a way to denigrate it. Yes, many retailers including Boots, Tesco, Screwfix etc offer this service. But I don’t frequent these as much as I do the front of my property every two weeks. And if I forget to take the batteries to one of these shops, I won’t make a special trip back. Let’s congratulate the council for making this a convenient service that does good for the environment.
Building less houses would benefit the environment.
This is a good idea. How often have you forgotten to take them to the shops and then got fed up and thrown them in the bin after forgetting multiple times?
Never since they have been classed as “Dispose of at appropriate drop off/collection point”.
To avoid more plastic bags going to landfill I will continue to put batteries in the containers at Lidl.
Yes, it is a shame it has to be plastic bags. Joe Bloggs makes a good point. Other option is use a plastic box of your own that the refuse collectors empty but I suppose both ideas would take up a fraction more time and work hours = £. But it does seem a good environmental idea is somewhat scuppered by encouraging more use of plastic bags. So, for me, I will continue to take them to shops as I have done for years.
Great idea. Used it already and better than messing about dropping off at shops etc.
We need a little receptacle to hang on the side of our black bins to put them in.
perhaps if enough of us email the idea it may be put into practice.
Thank you Amey can’t wait to get rid of my big bag full
When are the new collection rota leaflets being delivered to households?
Oh what a load of old virtue-signalling rot!!
If it was such a good idea then why has it taken until 2022 to come up with it??
The Waste Department of the IWC has to be one of the last bastions of not having to work for a living.
This is a department that can’t even clear wheelie bins off the pavement on North Road for the last seven years. Less virtue signalling and try a bit of the real job you’re actually paid to do.
Whilst a good idea they won’t be recycled here but they will need to be shipped elsewhere at what cost to the tax payer
Not being funny but there appears to be a shortage of clear good quality large plastic bags in some cheaper outlet stores. Perhaps the Council should invest in battery boxes so the bin men can just empty them into a larger container on the truck as that would quicken the disposal at the end drop off. I wouldn’t fancy removing all the plastic bags from those collected – far too time consuming and wasteful. I do try to dispose of mine in stores when I go out but realise there are a number of people on the Island who don’t go out due to health or age related reasons.
From the web:
How can battery recycling help the environment?
When batteries begin to rot away in landfill sites these chemicals may leak into the ground, which can cause soil and water pollution. When chemicals contaminate soil and water animals, humans and the environment can be harmed. Recycling is a great way to help protect the environment.
Do it for your children and their children if nothing else.
Another info via web:
What happens to batteries when recycled?
Once collected, these are melted and used to form new batteries, while the acid is converted into industrial chemicals or water. A similar mechanical separation process is used to extract and reuse the zinc, manganese, steel and other components from alkaline batteries (such as AA and AAA).