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Battery recycling

 

remier Waste is making it easier to recycle batteries for householders in County Durham. We collect used batteries for recycling at every one of the household waste recycling sites we operate across County Durham.

All battery types can be recycled including both rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries, small button cells  and battery packs from electronic and electrical equipment. Premier also accept and recycle car batteries at our household waste recycling sites.

You can see a list of all Premier household waste recycling sites here.

Free collection bags

To make it easier to collect batteries in your house we are offering free collection bags to anyone coming to our recycling sites. Householders can use the bags to keep the used batteries in one place. It makes it easier to remember them on the next visit to the recycling site.

The need for battery recycling

Dead batteries are full of chemicals that can be used again. The batteries are taken to a re-processing facility in the UK where they are crushed and the chemicals used in their manufacture are extracted. The metal skin of the battery is also recovered.

In fact the EU recently highlighted a list of critical chemicals that are used in battery manufacture: antimony, indium, beryllium, magnesium, cobalt, niobium, fluorspar, platinum group, gallium, rare earths, germanium, tantalum, graphite and tungsten as being at a high supply risk, in other words access to these chemicals could be a problem in the future.

The bad news is that Britain is bottom of the league when it comes to battery recycling. The European Battery Recyclers Association (EBRA) has Switzerland as top battery collector at 65 per cent, followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and France. The UK comes in 15th place at 3 per cent, alongside Turkey, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Waste and Resources Action. Programme (WRAP) found the average UK household sends 21 portable batteries a year to landfill - a total of 600 million units. A quarter of those interviewed did not believe disposal of batteries in the normal rubbish would harm the environment.

TIPS FOR REDUCING AND RECYCLING BATTERIES

• Buy equipment that is mains powered, that way you do not need batteries at all.
• As you purchase new appliances look for rechargeable or alternative power equipment: for example you can buy radios and torches that get power from winding them up or solar power.
• The next step is to switch to rechargeable batteries. These last longer than disposable batteries before they have to be recycled.
• Doing any of these things will drastically cut your battery use.
• Of course, even things that do not need disposable batteries may be fitted with a battery that is recharged. In these cases it is important to make sure that the battery can be removed so it can be replaced when it reaches the end of its life.