Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire households can now extra simply recycle used small batteries with any of their waste collections.
Modifications to bin lorries imply residents can now merely put used batteries inside a small plastic bag, tie it up, and depart that bag on high of their inexperienced, black or blue bins for collections by crews on their regular rounds.
Batteries can now be recycled in Cambridge or South Cambridgeshire by inserting them in a bag, tying it up and placing it in your blue, inexperienced or black bin when it’s out for assortment. (62295854)
Beforehand, residents had been requested to tie baggage of used batteries to their deal with of their blue bin.
Residents of flats with shared bins are suggested not to do that, nonetheless, and to take them to a battery assortment level at a grocery store, store, chemist or petrol station. Go to www.recyclenow.com to see all places.
The change has been introduced by the Higher Cambridge Shared Waste Service – the partnership between Cambridge Metropolis and South Cambridgeshire District Councils which carries out bin collections in each areas.
Cllr Rosy Moore,govt councillor for setting, local weather change and biodiversity at Cambridge Metropolis Council, stated: “Please bear in mind batteries ought to by no means be put inside your bin. It can be crucial that batteries are recycled correctly to get better the dear steel inside them, to maintain hazardous substances from the setting, and to stop fires in bin lorries or the sorting facility.”
Most small widespread family transportable batteries could be positioned out for assortment on the kerbside, together with:
AA and AAA
C and D
Button cells
You shouldn’t embrace cell phone, laptop computer batteries or these which can be connected to a tool. Search on-line for ‘recycle small electrical objects’ as an alternative.
Cllr Henry Batchelor, lead cupboard member for environmental companies and licensing at South Cambridgeshire District Council, stated: “Useless batteries include plenty of helpful supplies which can be utilized once more, however solely half of the as much as 1 billion batteries thrown away within the UK annually are recycled appropriately. A few of those who find yourself in bins get broken and catch fireplace. We’ve seen this primary hand with fires in our bin lorries, together with close to Orchard Park again in October, which endanger our crews, injury costly tools, disrupt our companies and lead to fireplace service call-outs.
The aftermath of the bin lorry fireplace, brought on by batteries being thrown generally waste. on October 6, 2022. Image: Higher Cambridge Shared Waste
“We hope that by making batteries simpler to recycle frequently we will help residents to securely recycle all their batteries. I’d additionally encourage residents to contemplate shopping for rechargeable batteries as fashionable ones maintain their cost a lot better than was beforehand the case and could be charged extra shortly.”
The used batteries might be collected for recycling by Valpak.
James Nash, Industrial Supervisor at Valpak, stated: “Reconomy Group firm, Valpak, wish to congratulate Higher Cambridge Shared Waste on its proactive strategy to recycling batteries. Diverting this hazardous waste from landfill is massively necessary for the setting, and providing native residents a handy approach to recycle, proper from their doorstep, will give the scheme the best probability of success. We organize for the collected batteries to be sorted and recycled.
“The chemistry of waste batteries varies extensively, and our community caters for the complete array of battery sorts that come up. The commonest supplies captured within the recycling processes, nonetheless, are cobalt, nickel and metal. As soon as processed, these go proper again into battery manufacturing, or put to make use of in industries resembling building, electronics or the metal trade. Whichever new life they tackle, we could be assured that they don’t seem to be decomposing within the floor, leaching dangerous chemical substances into the environment.”