Bristol’s battery recycling will be given a boost with the launch of a pilot project that seeks to increase the number of batteries being recycled by homes across the city.
The initiative has been led by a collaboration between Ecosurety and Bristol Waste Company. It aims to raise awareness of the free, battery kerbside collection service so that more batteries will be recycled rather than put in the general waste bins.
Whilst only 1% of Bristol’s waste is disposed of in landfill, batteries that are put into it leach toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium into the environment. These heavy metals can contaminate the soil and water and lead to biodiversity loss.
As battery-operated devices become an increasing feature of day-to-day life, the importance of providing effective and easy to access recycling routes is greater than ever.
Battery recycling bags for homes
As part of the pilot campaign, homes across Bristol will receive a leaflet and some battery-recycling bags through their doors with more information on the service. The pilot project rolling out in two Bristol areas will remind residents they can place any used batteries in an unsealed bag alongside their paper, card and aluminium in their black kerbside recycling box.
The batteries will be taken to one of Bristol’s waste recycling centres where they are sent off for useful materials to be extracted and reused in a range of manufacturing processes.
Ecosurety initiated the awareness campaign as part of a broader objective to increase household battery recycling in the UK for several years. It estimates that as much as 178 million used batteries are sitting in homes across the UK. This latest campaign follows on from the #BringBackHeavyMetal national awareness campaign launched in 2017.
A useful reminder
Stephanie Housty, Marketing Manager at Ecosurety commented “Batteries now power a plethora of gadgets that we use in our day-to-day lives. It is essential that we make every effort to dispose of them properly, so we can reuse the valuable materials they contain.
We hope that this awareness campaign will act as a useful reminder to Bristol households of the hassle-free battery collection service which is available across the city.”
Emma Williams, Marketing Officer at Bristol Waste Company, said “We’re delighted to be working with Ecosurety on this trial. Not enough residents know they can recycle their used batteries at the kerbside. We’re hoping the stand out leaflet and fun brown battery bags will give battery collections the power-up it needs to help reduce harm to the environment, increasing recycling and save money at the same time.
Bristol’s kerbside battery recycling service is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the household recycling waste stream. We need this to change! Kerbside collection of batteries makes it incredibly easy for Bristol homes to recycle them - we encourage everyone to take advantage of this service to help keep batteries out of our natural environment.”
About Bristol Waste Company
Bristol Waste Company is a waste collection and street cleansing company based in Bristol. It is committed to working in partnership with the people of Bristol to help all communities recycle more, throw away less and waste nothing.
It runs both of the city's household waste recycling centres and a commercial waste service, offering local businesses tailored, cost effective recycling and waste solutions.
For more information please visit www.bristolwastecompany.co.uk
About Ecosurety
Ecosurety is the leading compliance scheme investing in quality recycling across the UK. With more than 1,000 customers including Danone, The Co-operative Group, Innocent, Morrisons and Virgin Media, Ecosurety supports efficient and more transparent investment in UK recycling projects via infrastructure, innovation and consumer awareness campaigns.
Committed to reducing the environmental impact of UK businesses, and to a tangible increase in UK recycling, Ecosurety helps producers organise quality evidence to ensure they comply with packaging, WEEE, batteries and international regulations.
For more information please visit www.ecosurety.com
Ben Luger
Marketing projects specialist
Ben joined the team at the beginning of 2015 and helps drive marketing communications and projects for Ecosurety, including project managing the launch of the Ecosurety Exploration Fund and website content development.
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