The Take Charge campaign, to be launched later this year, was commissioned by the ESA on behalf of its members in a bid to reduce the number of serious fires caused by carelessly discarded batteries.
Executive director of the ESA Jacob Hayler said: “Our society is seeing an exponential increase in the use of high-energy rechargeable batteries across a wide range of consumer electronic devices, so we expect the number and frequency of battery-related waste fires to increase in future unless we can encourage consumers to use proper battery recycling infrastructure more often.
“Waste fires not only cause millions of pounds of damage every year and disrupt services but, more importantly, can put lives at risk, so this is clearly a serious issue facing the recycling and waste management sector.”
Theme
The Take Charge campaign will depict dead batteries rising from the grave as “zombies” to terrorise recycling and waste management facilities. The campaign will urge consumers to “join the fight” against zombie batteries by recycling batteries responsibly.
“We hope that the Take Charge campaign will provide fresh impetus to this important issue”
Mr Hayler said: “We hope that the Take Charge campaign, through its memorable theme, will provide fresh impetus to this important issue and help to raise awareness among consumers of the dangers posed when batteries enter the residual waste or conventional recycling streams.”
Upon its launch, the campaign will include a dedicated website and its own social media presence. It will also include a short film, showing how batteries can become “zombies” if not recycled responsibly, as well as a range of communications assets for public and private sector organisations to use and share free of charge.
The campaign also aims to raise awareness of consumer electronic devices that contain high-energy rechargeable batteries and to help people understand how to recycle products containing batteries which cannot easily be removed for separate recycling.
Fires
The ESA says its cross-industry Battery Fires Task Group, which includes fire and rescue service representatives, is working to address the issue of battery-related waste fires.
Through this group, during the last three years, the ESA has collected annual data from its members showing that lithium-ion batteries alone are responsible for around 25% of all fires at waste management facilities.
A separate report prepared by EuRic and the WEEE Forum and published in May suggested the number of fires in the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management chain caused by damaged batteries was increasing (see letsrecycle.com story).
ESA member data for the 2019/2020 financial year is currently being compiled and will be released alongside the launch of the Take Charge campaign.
Local authorities
The ESA says it intends to contact local authorities and other organisations involved in battery recycling to seek feedback on the campaign and to help further develop the communications materials, prior to the official launch of the campaign.
Mr Hayler said: “We are working to launch this campaign later this year and, in the meantime, would very much welcome support from any organisation that shares our commitment to tackling battery-related waste fires, by ensuring that more and more batteries are recycled responsibly.”
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