We all have them, some way more than others, batteries.
Now I am not doing anything revolutionary with batteries but there is some basic action everyone can take which is at the very least to recycle them.
I do try to avoid buying products that require batteries for multiple reasons:
- We never have the right type of battery in the house.
- I forget to buy them when at the pound shop and buying them anywhere else seems expensive.
- A lot of what I call plastic tat tends to come with batteries. The kind of things your children want to buy but you know will break within 5 minutes.
- They never last very long, especially if you buy the cheap ones.
- I know they are a one use product.
Now I know you can buy re-chargeable batteries but that requires having a charger for the right sized batteries and having time to charge them. You can guarantee you only remember to charge the batteries at the exact moment you need to use the little buggers.
Re-chargeable batteries are in the short-term better for the environment and your pocket. But they do not last forever and will eventually need replacing, you also need to consider the environmental impact and cost of the electricity used to re-charge them. However if you live in a home that is low-carbon, so for example your electricity is provided by solar power then they most certainly are the better option.
Again this is about the balance of convenience, cost and the eco benefit.
Regardless of the type of battery you use, you should be correctly disposing of them. It has become a lot easier over the last few years to re-cycle batteries but some people may not be aware of all their options.
You will have noticed a lot of shops now have on display a large tub for customers to deposit used batteries. My understanding of this was that this was due to a change in UK law a few years ago putting responsibilities on those who manufacture or sell products that include batteries to help facilitate their disposal/recycling. I have no idea how I know this, so I thought I would actually look into it a bit more. I found the following information on the .gov website. Heads up it is long-winded.
A much more useful explanation is this BBC article from 2010. By and large I was correct but it was an EU lead change.
I went through a phase of putting our used batteries in my ruck sack (I am no longer a hand bag kind of gal) with the plan of popping them into a battery recycling tub when out and about. However this resulted in a very heavy bag as I kept forgetting about them. My place of work actually has one of the recycle boxes but I have also used the ones at Aldi and Primark.
However my current plan of action came from my daughter. She comes home with a lot of random crap from school but one day she came home with a small cardboard box that appears to encourage children to treasure hunt for batteries around the house and deposit them in said card board box. I took this as an opportunity to explain, as best you can to a five-year old, that it is for USED batteries so please put the ones out of the TV remote back in before your Dad cries.
I do now make a point of giving her any used batteries so she can be the one to put them in the box, I like her to feel that her actions are part of the solution and she can make her own contribution to recycling. The box is quite handy and is kept next to our kitchen compost caddy but it slightly annoys me with the restrictive list of what batteries can be included in that particular box. We are using it for all batteries that fit and then I am taking them to a box I know also recycles my hearing aid batteries (the small round ones you can see in the pic below).
I would say this picture represents about 3 months worth of batteries, and most of those are because we have a battery operated door bell left from the previous owners that seems to eat batteries at an alarming rate. I think this is mainly because it is a very loud portable one and you have a choice of over 10 tunes including happy birthday and Auld Lang Syne.
You should also look up the recycling list of your local council, mine is North Tyneside and their website has a section dedicated to What Goes In My Bins? which I think sounds like a game from Celebrity Juice. Please look yours up, you will be surprised by what can be included, although I know from experience that they way recycling is handled differs wildly across each local authority. I have had the pleasure or in one case the displeasure of living in Newcastle, Gateshead and now North Tyneside and the latter are definitely the better in my opinion.
North Tyneside state household batteries can be put in the caddy from your recycling bin, but please put them in a small plastic bag on the top of the glass. Now I can understand why they ask this as it makes it easier for the bin men to spot and separate from the other recycling but a plastic bag! Erm no, so I think once my box is full I will have a nice eco-friendly walk to my local Aldi and pop them in there, I can use it as a little eco lesson for my daughter to boot.
Now for other batteries, the odd shape ones, the ones stuck in the annoying toy etc. there is hope for those too. The best thing to do is to look up the manufacturer’s website as they should provide information on how to dispose of batteries in their products. I noticed the Primark in town has information next to their battery box telling you where you can recycle some of the larger/irregular batteries. It mainly listed local skips.
Don’t underestimate your local skip (also known as the Household Waste Recycling Centre), again you would be surprised by the kind of things they can recycle, it is always a good idea to separate your junk before you take a trip to the skip. There is no need for it to all end up in general waste.
Check out this information, again from the North Tyneside Council Website. This place in North Shields is open every day except Christmas Day and from 8am to 8pm. You can’t grumble at those opening hours!
The following table shows the materials that they accept and if they’re recycled, sent for re-use or disposal.
| Re – used | Recycled | Waste disposal |
|---|---|---|
| Textiles | Cardboard / paper | Other residual waste |
| Mobile phones | Glass | |
| Spectacles | Cans | |
| Books | Mixed plastics and bags | |
| CDs | Green waste | |
| Bicycles | Scrap metals | |
| Bras | Batteries (dry or/ wet cell) | |
| Shoes | Fluorescent tubes | |
| Furniture | Rubble | |
| Gas bottles | Waste oils (engine / used cooking) | |
| Wood | ||
| Small and large domestic appliances | ||
| TVs and monitors | ||
| Fridges and freezers | ||
| Tyres | ||
| Gypsum/plasterboard |
So why not make this a small goal, a little step in your eco journey. This is a good one to get sorted before Christmas too!
Eco Lass 