Did you know each year in the UK we throw away around 600 million batteries? Laid end-to-end these batteries would reach from the UK to Australia and back again. That is a lot of batteries!

Batteries play a huge part in our everyday lives and can be found in every room in our homes. They are used in electrical and electronic items, such as, remote controls, mobile phones, toys, clocks and even doorbells. In fact, every person in Britain uses around 10 batteries a year. 

Thousands of tonnes of CO₂ emissions can be avoided if the UK increases battery recycling. In 2020, around 40,000 tonnes of portable batteries were sold in the UK, with only around 18,000 tonnes being recycled.

Most batteries are thrown away in household rubbish bins, which means they are collected at kerbside and dumped at landfill sites. There are many different types of batteries, all of which contain dangerous chemicals, including lead, cadmium, zinc, lithium and even mercury.

If we fail to correctly dispose of our waste batteries, the metal within them takes over 100 years to perish and breakdown and the chemicals contained within the batteries will never breakdown and are extremely toxic to the environment. They leak into the ground, which can cause soil and water pollution, damaging our ecosystems and wildlife.

We have recycling buckets for used batteries in the school office.  Please consider sending your old batteries into school for recycling rather than throwing them away in your general household waste.

Recycling any type of used battery is a great way to help protect the environment. Each battery placed in a recycling bin will be safely taken apart and the materials will be used to make something new.