Reducing battery waste

At present, 700 million batteries go to landfill annually, but there are new plans from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra) to substantially reduce this figure.

Proposals, set out in a government consultation, will look at the best way to improve the environmental performance of new batteries and ensure collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries. This will help the UK to implement the EU's Batteries and Accumulators Directive. The government consultation will run from 20 December 2007 through 12 March 2008 and seeks views from consumers, businesses and industry.

For the amount of waste batteries to be recycled, targets are set at 25 per cent of battery sales by 2012, rising to 45 per cent by 2016. The government is aiming for a near total ban on household batteries with high levels of cadmium (there are certain exceptions, for emergency lighting, alarm systems, medical equipment and cordless power tools), with continued restrictions on the use of mercury. There also needs to be a clearer labelling system with capacity, chemical symbol and 'wheelie bin' collection symbols.

Greater responsibility will also lie with producers and retailers. There will be a ban on disposal of industrial and automotive batteries in landfill or by incineration. Producers of appliances will have to ensure that batteries can be readily removed for easy collection, treatment and recycling. Retailers will also be responsible for taking back waste household batteries at no charge to consumers. Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks, characterised these targets as "tough, but achievable".