Apart from a trial recycling scheme in Avonmouth which was abandoned last year, the UK has had nowhere to recycle non-lead batteries – vehicle batteries already go to traditional smelters.
Now, Darlaston-based G&P; Batteries has revealed it plans to build the plant at one of its sister company's sites in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. The announcements comes ahead of the proposed Battery Directive from the European Union.
G&P; Batteries has signed a licence to run the plant with Recupyl SA of Grenoble, France.
Alkaline
A statement from G&P; this week said that the plant will be capable of recycling up to 1,500 tonnes a year of alkaline and zinc carbon batteries – or 500,000 cells – and should be operational by early 2005.
The plant will be able to exceed the recycling rate proposed in the draft directive as it will be able to process more than 55% of the materials in alkaline and zinc batteries. It will separate the batteries into their constituent parts so the various materials, including steel, zinc and manganese dioxide, can be recovered. Managing director Michael Green explained that the process would remove the plastic, paper and steel wrappings to the batteries leaving the “black mass” core. G&P; is now seeking outlets for this material which contains carbon, zinc and manganese dioxide.
G&P; collects around 800 tonnes of non-lead batteries in the UK each year. Around a quarter of them are alkaline and zinc carbon, which have to be sent over to Europe for processing.
Mr Green said: “We firmly believe that the UK needs its own recycling facilities and have decided to take the lead to extend our own operation to include reprocessing.”
However, battery collection will remain G&P;'s core business, he added.
The costs for using the plant would vary considerably as the firm can provide a range of services, according to Mr Green. It can offer containment, collection, sorting and recycling of batteries.
800 per tonne
Costs will also vary according to the volume collected. “Roughly speaking it would be around 800 per tonne but nobody collects much in the way of a tonne, and most only collect around 50 kilos,” Mr Green explained.
He hopes the new plant, which will not be able to process all the batteries recycled when the directive comes into force, will maximise volume of cells recovered.
“The more we collect the cheaper it will become – but the costs are equivalent to sending them abroad for processing,” Mr Green explained. “The whole point is to generate interest and generate volume.”
Initial estimates of the cost of recycling the batteries is put a 1-2 pence for a double A cell.
G&P;'s new centre has generated a lot of interest from the recycling sector, “but not everybody is jumping onto the bandwagon,” he added. But the firm could expand its processing activities.
“The Batteries Directive is coming along and this plant is only a small pilot,” Mr Green said. “It is not going to do a great deal towards what we have to get started if we are to stand a chance of meeting the requirements.
“But when the directive comes into force it is likely the producers will have to carry the costs. The only difficulty at the moment is where authorities or companies have to fund their own recycling.”
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