UK meets 2011 battery recycling target

The UK just met its battery recycling target in 2011, according to final portable battery recycling data published by the Environment Agency.

The data shows that the overall collection rate for the six battery compliance schemes in the UK, BatteryBack, Budget pack, CCR Rebat, ERP UK Ltd, REPIC eBatt and Valpak Ltd, was 18.03%, fractionally higher than the 18% collection target.

This confirms the statement made by the Environment Agency in March that the UK would meet its 2011 obligation following the release of provisional data showing that a collection rate of 17.8% had been reached before the May deadline for the submission of final evidence (see letsrecycle.com story).

The 2011 target is the last not legally-binding target for schemes, with the first mandatory collection target as set out in the EU Batteries Directive coming into effect this year. Member states are now required to collect a total of 25% of all the portable batteries placed onto the market over the two preceding years, rising to 45% in 2015.

Collection

According to the Environment Agency data, published July 12, a total of 39,813.456 tonnes of batteries were placed onto the market by the UKs 486 compliance scheme members in 2011, with recycling evidence notes accepted for a total of 7,999.945 tonnes of waste batteries collected.

The data also offers a breakdown of the market share and total tonnage of batteries collected by each of the compliance schemes currently operating in the sector, showing that Valpak and BatteryBack currently have the largest obligations, with the schemes members placing over 15,000 tonnes of batteries onto the market each during 2011.

Members of compliance schemes Budget Pack and CCR Rebat are shown to have placed more than 3,000 tonnes of portable batteries onto the market over the same period, with members of ERP UK and REPIC eBatt placing over 1,000 tonnes onto the market.

Valpak are shown to have collected the most during 2011 (see table below), with a collection total of 3,515.186 tonnes of batteries received, followed by BatteryBack, which received 3,129.816.

The 2011 figures represent a significant rise from the 2010 collection rate, where 9.45% of waste portable batteries were collected for recycling, short of the years 10% target.

However, it is thought that this would have been met had evidence from CCR Rebat not been rejected due to the submission of insufficient documentation, by the compliance scheme, leading to a 12 month delay in the publication of the data (see letsrecycle.com story).