The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP), which represents the six Oxfordshire councils, said that household batteries can be put on top of any recycling bin or box in the county for collection. They must be put in a clear plastic bag for collection and placed on top of the other containers, not mixed with the other dry recyclables.
The councils in OWP are: Cherwell district; Oxford city; Oxfordshire county; South Oxfordshire district; Vale of White Horse district; and, West Oxfordshire district.
Chairman of OWP, and South Oxfordshire district councillor, David Dodds said: Were always looking to improve on our successful recycling schemes by collecting more materials, and batteries are the latest item on our list. People can put their old batteries in any clear plastic bag such as a sandwich bag and leave them on the top of their bin or box on any collection day: theres no fixed schedule.
Service
Oxford city has become the latest council to launch the service. West Oxfordshire district have included batteries in their recycling service for several years. In addition, Cherwell introduced the collections last Christmas and South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse began collecting batteries a few months ago. So far in 2012, Cherwell council has collected over 300,000 batteries.
The scheme adds to the battery collection points available at many of the large supermarkets and DIY stores around the county.
Once collected, OWP said the batteries are recycled into their component parts. The recovered material can then be used to manufacture new batteries, in other electronics, in the steel industry or to manufacture paint.
Valpak
The councils have worked with compliance scheme Valpak, which OWP said is helping to cover the costs of collection through payments made by battery manufacturers.
Under the UK Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations, which were introduced in May 2009, batteries producers must pay towards the cost of collection, treatment and recycling of the material.
James Nash, procurement officer at Valpak, said: Its great that Oxfordshire councils are switched on when it comes to battery recycling. This year the UK has a challenging target to recycle 25% of the batteries we use. Households across Oxfordshire will be vital to ensuring we meet this and work towards an even more ambitious target of 45% of batteries recycled by 2016.
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