Don't bin your batteries
Don’t bin your batteries is a trial intervention to see if we can encourage more residents to use the kerbside battery collection service in parts of Lawrence Weston and Westbury-upon-Trym.
From Thursday 2nd May 2019, in partnership with Ecosurety, some residents in Bristol were given a fun reminder not to put their batteries in the black general waste bin but to recycle them at the kerbside.
They received a battery shaped leaflet which has lots of useful information in it to show what happens to their batteries once they are taken and some paper bags to encourage residents to collect used household batteries and put them out for recycling.
The trial tested whether a little reminder increased battery collections in the area. Results are still coming in, and if there is a significant increase in battery recycling then it may be rolled out citywide.
There are no changes to the normal battery collections. Once the paper bags are gone they are to be put out on recycling day in a small clear bag and residents from all over the city are encouraged to do this.
Why should batteries be recycled?
178 million used batteries are hoarded in UK homes, they contain heavy metals including lead, mercury, zinc and lithium – all of which can be recycled. Batteries are harmful to the environment if put in the black wheelie bins, but recovered materials are used to make new batteries and other products.
Don't bin your batteries FAQ
To stop batteries from being placed into landfill, where they cause damage to the environment when they should be recycled, and to test if a simple nudge technique will increase awareness about kerbside battery collection.
6 recycling rounds which equate to about 4000 households in parts of Lawrence Weston and Westbury-Upon-Trym.
There has been no change to the way we collect batteries and residents can still put batteries in clear plastic bags or loose in their boxes. The paper bags provided aim to raise awareness and to make collection and presentation of batteries easier.
We will continue to weigh the batteries collected from the 6 trial rounds for the foreseeable future to establish whether the campaign has had an impact.
As the bags are only as a reminder about our battery collection service, once the bags provided with the roll out are gone we will not be sending any more out – residents can resume presenting batteries in clear plastic bags.
Batteries should be placed in a small, clear plastic bag and put in the black recycling box.
Yes. They are made from recycled stock and can be recycled in the green box with your cardboard. Why not reuse the treasury tag by putting a hole in your waste paper, putting the tag through it and creating a shopping list for your fridge?
Bristol Waste have partnered up with Ecosurety, a leading Bristol compliance scheme who are committed to making a positive impact on UK recycling in the key areas of education, collaboration, innovation and infrastructure
Discover our other campaigns to help Bristol recycle more and waste less.