facts - battery recycling

• Each year we throw away about 600 million batteries. Laid end to end these batteries would reach from the UK to Australia and back again (source: recycle-more.co.uk)
• Each year about 22,000 tonnes of UK household batteries are sent to landfill. That's the same weight as 3,666 Tyrannosaurus Rex's (source: recycle-more.co.uk)
• Batteries can be found in virtually every room in the house. They're used in a wide range of objects including toys, remote controls, mobile phones, ipods and even doorbells

• Every person in Britain uses about 10 batteries a year
• The UK currently collects less than 3% of waste portable batteries, one of the lowest rates in Europe
• A European Directive on Batteries and Accumulators was published in 2006 and aims to minimise the impact of batteries on the environment and encourage the recovery of the materials they contain
• The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations was introduced into UK law in May 2009. These regulations have set the following targets for the collection and recycling of waste portable batteries:
• 25% recycling rate by 2012 and 45% by 2016

Use the following links to find:

which batteries can I recycle?   battery symbols and the law  useful links