The 12 month pilot, which launched in September 2002, collected two tonnes more than its original collection target of 10 tonnes in its first year, despite losing its original recycling partner and experiencing difficulties with its collection team.
The batteries had been sent for reprocessing at Avonmouth-based Britannia Zinc until February 2003 when the plant closed down. This left the UK with no remaining plants where battery recycling could be carried out, so a new deal was brokered with Wolverhampton-based G&P; Batteries which saw the batteries sent abroad for recycling.
However, the organisers of the scheme said it was not practical to keep sending batteries abroad.
Urgent
Sustainability expert Jonathan Porrit, who launched the pilot, said: “To make widespread battery recycling cost-effective and sustainable, we urgently need a solution for carrying out the recycling in the UK.”
Spokeswoman Abby Edwards explained: “Despite the successes we have had there has to be a solution to recycling batteries in this country instead of shipping them abroad – for both economic and environmental reasons. Environmentally, it's a fine balance as to whether we are doing as much good as bad in shipping batteries abroad for processing.”
And she admitted the scheme had benefited from “heavy funding” from its sponsors as well as G&P; waiving their sorting costs. “This was a pilot scheme to see what would happen,” she said. “We can't say yet whether it would be economically feasible without additional funding, but it is not cost effective to keep sending those numbers of batteries abroad.”
The EU is currently consulting on a new Batteries Directive. It is expected to set a target of recycling at least 45% of batteries used – about 10,000 tonnes of the UK's waste household and industrial batteries per year.
Costs
Details and costs of the pilot's first year will be presented in a report in November 2003 along with recommendations for operating battery collection schemes.
The first year of the project was supported by generous funding from partners including 20,000 +VAT from the DTI, 30,000 from South West Regional Development Agency, 60,000 from SITA Environmental Trust from Landfill Tax Credits and 5,000 from Bristol City Council.
When the pilot began, Avon Friends of the Earth-owned Resourcesaver was operating collections from about 160,000 Bristol households through a multi-material kerbside scheme. After the closure of Avon FoE last month (see letsrecycle.com story) these collections switched to ECT Recycling. The organisers hope to extend the service to nearby NE Somerset and Bath soon.
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