We use millions of batteries every year in portable appliances, like remote controls, alarm clocks and personal stereos. Sadly most of these (thousands of tonnes a year) end up being disposed of in landfill sites but they can be recycled instead.
Where can I recycle batteries?
You can take batteries back to the shop where you bought them and they are obliged to accept them and recycle them. You can also recycle batteries at each of the five main Household Recycling Centres (HRC's) in Shropshire:
- Shrewsbury HRC (Battlefield Enterprise Park)
- Oswestry HRC (Mile Oak Industrial Estate)
- Whitchurch HRC (Waymills Civic Park)
- Craven Arms HRC (off Long Lane)
- Bridgnorth HRC (Stanley Lane)
What type of batteries can be recycled?
Any general purpose dry cell household batteries including:
- Zinc carbon used in low drainage appliances such as torches, clocks, shavers and radios.
- Zinc chloride used in similar applications.
- Alkaline manganese used in personal stereos and cassette players.
- Primary button cells.
- Mercuric oxide used in batteries for hearing aids, pacemakers, photographic equipment.
- Zinc air - an alternative to mercuric oxide - used for hearing aids and radio pagers.
- Silver oxide used for electronic watches and calculators.
- Lithium used for watches and photographic equipment.
- Any dry-cell rechargeable batteries
- Nickel cadmium, Nickel metal hydride and Lithium-Ion batteries used in power tools, cordless appliances, mobile phones, lap-top computers, power tools, power packs, shavers, motorised toys etc.
What else can I do?
- Use the mains when possible.
- Use Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries which are seen a less environmentally harmful alternative to NiCd and tend to have a longer life.
- Use rechargeable batteries. This saves energy because the energy needed to manufacture a battery is on average 50 times greater than the energy it gives out.
- Opt for appliances that can use power derived from the sun via solar panels or from a winding mechanism, e.g. radios, mobile phone wind-up chargers.
- Recycle! Most shops take back old batteries! All the household recycling centres in Shropshire accept dry-cell batteries for recycling.
What happens to batteries?
All the batteries collected in Shropshire are sent to G&P Batteries Ltd in West Bromich for reprocessing and the metals are recovered and recycled. All battery recycling is done at no expense to the taxpayer with EU producer responsibity regulations requiring battery manufacturers to fund recycling. For more information visit their website (follow the link).
Why recycle batteries?
The average household uses 21 batteries a year and they could all be recycled. This helps to reduce waste to landfill, saves energy and reduces the need for more metal to be mined out of the ground. Batteries contain heavy metals which can present a risk to health, safety and the environment when disposed of in landfill sites.