A spokeswoman for the Bristol Battery Campaign confirmed that G&P;, which transports batteries from all over the UK to reprocessing companies in Europe, has taken over the recycling part of the year-long pilot.
The scheme, to collect consumer batteries from households in central Bristol, began in September 2002, but suffered a setback after original partner Britannia Zinc was forced to close. Britannia, based in Avonmouth near Bristol, was a zinc smelting operation which had accepted the batteries unsorted, yielding zinc, lead and cadmium for re-use. But the company closed in February 2003, leaving the UK with no operational battery recycling facilities.
Expensive
The spokeswoman admitted that the additional transport costs of carrying the batteries to Europe and the cost of sorting them into chemical types would make the scheme more expensive than originally planned. But she added that G&P; have offered to waive the first 5,000 worth of sorting costs as a goodwill gesture.
She said: “We are very pleased to have G&P; on board. They will start immediately. We now need to devise the cheapest way of it working and the best way of getting the batteries to Europe.”
G&P; commercial director Greg Clementson said: “We are extremely happy to be involved with such an important pilot and hope that we will be able to contribute to its overall success. We will be eagerly awaiting the final results in September.”
Decision
So far, 4.5 tonnes of consumer batteries have been collected in kerbside mixed material black boxes by Bristol's recycling contractor Resourcesaver, which is owned by Avon Friends of the Earth. They are currently being stored on the Britannia Zinc premises while a decision is made on what size batches should be for transportation.
The Battery Recycling Campaign is jointly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, the South West Regional Development Agency, SITA Environmental Trust and Bristol City Council.
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