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The
European Directive on Batteries and Accumulators was published on
26 September 2006. It aims to minimise the impact of batteries on the
environment and encourage the recovery of the materials they contain
through recycling.
The Battery
Directive has been made UK law through two new sets of regulations:
-
Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008
- became law
in September 2008
- restrictions
were placed on the use of mercury and cadmium in batteries
- new batteries
must be labelled with the crossed out wheeled bin symbols (shown
below) to help consumers choose batteries and recycle them
Cd, Hg and Pb underneath the wheelie bin symbol shows whether
the battery contains, cadmium (Cd), mercury
(Hg) or lead (Pb).
-
Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009
- became law
on 5 May 2009
- standards
were introduced for how batteries should be recycled and treated
- collection
and recycling targets for waste batteries introduced which affect
all producers and retailers of
portable batteries
- all retailers
who sell more than 32 kg a year of
portable batteries will need to provide free in-store recycling
points for waste batteries from 1st February 2010
UK targets for the Waste Batteries and
Accumulators Regulations 2009
|
year |
collection target |
| 2012 |
25% |
| 2016 |
45% |
The UK
currently collects less than 3% of waste
portable batteries, one of the lowest rates in Europe. So these
targets are challenging!
A list
of retailers offering FREE in-store recycling facilities for waste batteries
will be available in 2010 on this site.
Visit
the
bank locator to find nearest recycling sites for waste batteries.
Just type in your postcode and select 'batteries'.
Use the following links to find:
which batteries can I recycle?
battery facts
useful links
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