Bring old batteries to Trotton church

Did you know, any shop selling more than 32kg of batteries a year (which equates to one pack of 4 AA batteries per day) has to provide battery recycling collection facilities in-store. The Recycle Now website shows shows five places in Midhurst and 15 in Petersfield that will take spent batteries for recycling.

The Government website states that those shops ‘must take back any type of sealed battery that can be carried without difficulty by an average person'.

This includes (but is not limited to) AA, AAA and 9v batteries, rechargeable batteries and batteries from:

• mobile phones

• laptops

• hearing aids

• watches

• portable cameras

• torches

• electric toothbrushes

• razors

• hand-held vacuum cleaners

We are advised that it is not necessary to take back 'car and motorbike batteries or batteries from industrial equipment'.

And yet, according to Recycle More, ‘In 2020, around 40,000 tonnes of portable batteries were sold in the UK, with only around 18,000 tonnes being recycled’.

Why is this important?

Batteries contain metals including zinc, lithium and mercury that can be extracted for reuse, and toxic chemicals that can leach into the environment if the batteries end up in landfill sites. So, from the point of view of not wasting the finite resources of our planet and also in order to reduce pollution, batteries should be recycled.

So why can’t they go in our recycling bins?

Batteries put in recycling bins are a real fire risk as the batteries get damaged in the mechanical process of compressing the contents of the waste truck and are in there with plenty of flammable material. On the ERA visit to the Ford Recycling Centre we were shown some terrifying video clips of batteries sparking and ricocheting around in recycling centres.

An article on the Material Focus website states that, ‘Over 700 fires in bin lorries and recycling centres are caused by batteries’. 

So, let’s not do that!

What is ERA planning to do about this?

ERA wants to make battery recycling easier for you. If you struggle to get your spent batteries to somewhere where they are collected for recycling, then maybe we can bring that place nearer to you. To begin with we are setting up two collection points in the porches of Rogate and Trotton churches (many thanks to Edward and the church wardens). We are at the point of choosing a suitable, safe receptacle and seeking funding for them – it turns out that lockable battery recycling receptacles are more expensive than one might think!

We will then take the batteries to somewhere where they will get recycled. One option is Cancer Research UK charity shops who make a little money for their charity by collecting batteries for recycling.

What can you do?

Use rechargeable batteries, or plug the item in whenever possible. Think about this when purchasing new electrical items: for example, opt for a wind-up radio or torch, dynamo bicycle lights or solar powered garden lights.

Set up a system at home to prompt you to take your old batteries with you when going shopping. When talking to people about this topic it became clear that very many people have boxes of old batteries at home that they mean to recycle but they keep forgetting to do so!

Or become an ERA volunteer, checking the containers in the church porches and taking the batteries into town when you go.

Let’s see if we can get more batteries recycled locally, or better still, less batteries used locally.