Written question asked by Lord Brightman (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bach (Labour) on Monday, 12 December 2005.

Household Batteries: Recycling

Question: Whether they have considered measures to encourage local councils to collect used domestic electric batteries separately from other forms of waste so as to aid recycling; and, if so, what conclusions they drew.

Answer: Experience of battery collection in other member states shows us that it is necessary to engage local authorities, in order to collect significant levels of household batteries.The forthcoming Batteries Directive will require the UK to meet collection and recycling, targets for household (portable) batteries. As part of the BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) programme being run by Defra, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is currently undertaking work to develop battery collection infrastructure in the UK.WRAP will be working closely with local authorities as they will be running a series of nationwide trials on household battery collection (starting in 2006). The LGA (Local Government Association) has sat in on the batteries advisory group.

Secondary information