The scheme will operate alongside an existing battery recycling trail run by the council and will feed into the organisation's understanding of how UK retailers will meet battery collection targets under both the WEEE and the Battery Directive, the latter of which is due to be transposed into UK law in September.
WRAP battery programme manager Chris Davey said: “We will count how many items collected are battery-operated, remove the batteries and recycle them. All the other useful materials will be separated, analysed and then recycled – even the carrier bags.
“The results will feed into a better understanding of how to achieve the targets which will ultimately be funded by the producers who put the goods on the market,” he added.
Trial
Under the St Edmundsbury trial, 20,000 households will be able to put any electrical item that fits into a standard sized supermarket carrier bag out with their blue wheeled bin for dry recyclables.
The electrical appliances will then be collected by a separate vehicle, before being analysed and recycled.
Already, 44,000 households in St Edmundsbury are taking part in battery recycling trials. In 40,000 households residents are asked to hang a special collection bag on a hook fitted to the handled of the wheeled bin, while in 4,000 housholeds bags are left on the top of the bin.
So far, over nine tonnes of batteries have been collected for recycling, and the trial will continue to the end of September 2008.
St Edmundsbury is already one of the top performing authorities for recycling in the country – coming 8th in the country in 2006/7 with a 50% recycling rate.
Dan Sage, strategy and policy manager at St Edmundsbury council, said: “St Edmundsbury has been chosen to take part in this pilot because of the excellent record that our residents have for recycling.
“We want to collect all of those small, unwanted and unused electrical items such as old electrical toothbrushes, electric razors, hairdryers, torches and small radios – in fact anything powered by a battery or a mains lead which will fit into a normal carrier bag,” he added.
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