Battery Recycling

The Facts

• Each year we throw away over 600 million household batteries.
• The energy needed to make batteries is 50 times greater than the energy they give out.
• On average each UK household will spend over £100 a year on batteries.
• The battery market in the UK is worth £250 million per annum.
• The single largest source of mercury in household rubbish is batteries, especially alkaline and button cell batteries.
• Most batteries contain metals that are potentially toxic such as mercury, cadmium and nickel.
• Manufacturers of alkaline batteries are already committed to eliminate mercury from their batteries; however with button batteries the mercury is an integral part and cannot be eliminated.
• Over 30,000 tonnes of batteries are sold per annum containing nearly 5,500 tonnes of re-usable zinc.

How to recycle your batteries

Before collecting your batteries you must check with the Environment Agency to see whether you are required to obtain a Hazardous Waste Premises Code.

Dry Cell Batteries in the forms of Alkaline, Metal Hydride, Nickel Hydride, Lithium-Ion and Ni-Cad.

Rabbitt Recycling can offer two inexpensive solutions to your non lead acid battery recycling needs.

Option 1 - Bulk Collections

This option is aimed at large organisations or waste collection sites with over 200kg of batteries per collection for recycling.

• The batteries must be stored in sealed solid containers.
• Wherever possible do not mix the different types of batteries, otherwise you will incur sorting fees.
• The units should be labelled (i.e. ALKALINE or MIXED) according to the contents.
• When you have 200kg or more, simply place your units on a pallet(s) and call us on 0845 337 3343.
• We will arrange for a vehicle to collect your batteries and transport them to the recycling plant where the various metals are recovered and recycled in line with current government regulations. You will receive a Waste Transfer Note that should be retained for 2 years with your records.

Option 2 - Battery Box Collections

This option is designed for smaller organisations that are likely to have one or more small collections of dry cell batteries per year.

• The hiring of a battery box is simple.
• There are three different sizes to meet all your requirements.
• We will arrange for the box to be delivered normally within 24 - 48 hours.
• The boxes must be filled with dry cell batteries ONLY.
• When the box is full you simply call us to arrange for a vehicle to collect & transport your batteries to the recycling plant.
• The batteries are reprocessed in the same way as option 1.

The charges for these services include Delivery, Rental & Collection of the box, Recycling of the batteries and hazardous waste consignment documentation for your records. For more details and advice of costs please contact us.

Please Note: Hire is based on a period of up to 12 months. Should the box be kept longer than 12 months the box should be emptied and returned to Rabbitt Recycling (UK) Limited. Failure to do so may result in a weekly charge being applied to you.

Lead Acid Batteries

We will arrange for all your lead acid batteries to be taken away and reprocessed by one of the leading recyclers in the UK. Lead acid batteries include:

• Motor Vehicle batteries
• Industrial traction batteries
• Stand-by Power and Telecommunications batteries

Waste batteries are hazardous and must be handled, stored, transported and recovered according to current legislation.

We can supply to your site special approved battery-banks. Your waste batteries are then stored in the battery-bank and, if you notify us when full, we will arrange for it to be removed and replaced with an empty one if so required. This is the only way to store and handle most lead acid batteries and meet all duty of care regulations.

All lead acid batteries collected in this way are fully recycled - the lead plates are sent to a smelter for recycling, the plastic cases are recovered, and the waste acid is despatched for safe recycling or disposal.

Depending on your level of usage, various options are available with prices and further information available on request.

• Option 1* : Provision of 1 container and up to 2 collections of waste lead acid batteries
• Option 2* : Provision of 1 container and up to 4 collections of waste lead acid batteries
• Option 3* : Provision of 1 container and up to 10 collections of waste lead acid batteries

* Containers correctly packed hold between 850 and 1250Kgs - Terms and conditions apply.

On 26th September 2008 the new Battery Directive comes into force. It aims to make businesses that produce and sell batteries responsible for collecting and recycling used ones. It covers all batteries and accumulators regardless of their chemical composition. The Directive specifies targets of 25% by 26 September 2012 and 45% by 26 September 2016. Currently the UK recycles around 2% of its household batteries, with some 600 million going to landfill. (Defra 2007)

As already stated, Rabbitt Recycling has a collection program in place for small, medium and large quantities of dry cell batteries. For years the cost of disposing of or recycling batteries has been expensive.

Now, We Buy Bulk Quantities of Re-chargeable Batteries - nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium and lithium ion.

We will also buy bulk quantities of Lead Acid Batteries.