Bedford Borough Council have recently introduced kerbside battery collections directly from households in Bedford. Using a small plastic battery bag (pictured right), householders can store their batteries, then once full, leave the bag out on top of their black, residual waste container. Although there is no legal responsibility for councils to collect batteries within the UK battery regulations, Bedford, has listened to residents who wanted to see the collections introduced.
The battery bag details the type of household batteries that can be collected under the scheme, with sizes from D to AAA and even button cell batteries allowed. The scheme, however, does not include car or industrial sized batteries.
The first phase roll out of the scheme has taken place, giving 12,500 residents the ability to have their redundant batteries collected. Over the summer, subject to the success of the first phase, the rest of the residents will receive their bags. The council is working with Valpac compliance scheme and G & P Batteries of the West Midlands in order to process the batteries for recycling.
Pure Planet Recycling supports and encourages the scheme. As Bedford householders ourselves we believe the scheme will encourage recycling and promote the importance of not throwing your batteries into the bin. We also hope that other councils adopt similar schemes to increase recycling rates in the UK.