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You have to recycle now
New EU rules have come into force that require some stores selling batteries to provide in-store recycling bins.
Anyone selling more than 32kg of batteries a year, or one pack of four AA batteries a day, must comply as part of targets on cutting landfill. The UK currently recycles only 3 per cent of portable batteries and the EU wants the country to recycle nearly half by 2016.
At present, 97 per cent of batteries end up in landfill sites, where they can leak toxic chemicals into the soil. The EU Batteries Directive aims to tackle that problem and cut carbon emissions by reducing the need for new batteries to be made from scratch.
Retailers will be required to provide a recycling point in-store which will be regularly emptied free of charge under the government's Battery Compliance Scheme. The hope is that this will see battery recycling levels rise to 10 per cent by the end of this year and a quarter by 2012.
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New EU rules about batteries come in
You have to recycle now
New EU rules have come into force that require some stores selling batteries to provide in-store recycling bins.
Anyone selling more than 32kg of batteries a year, or one pack of four AA batteries a day, must comply as part of targets on cutting landfill. The UK currently recycles only 3 per cent of portable batteries and the EU wants the country to recycle nearly half by 2016.
At present, 97 per cent of batteries end up in landfill sites, where they can leak toxic chemicals into the soil. The EU Batteries Directive aims to tackle that problem and cut carbon emissions by reducing the need for new batteries to be made from scratch.
Retailers will be required to provide a recycling point in-store which will be regularly emptied free of charge under the government's Battery Compliance Scheme. The hope is that this will see battery recycling levels rise to 10 per cent by the end of this year and a quarter by 2012.