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Volunteers get battery recycling rolling - but we still need more!

This feature was added on 5th July 2010

Hertfordshire residents who have signed up to become battery recycling volunteers were given a warm welcome at a special get-together at County Hall on Tuesday (June 22).

The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership has signed up to CoBRA (the Community Battery Recycling Alliance), an award-winning battery recycling scheme, and special drop-off points for batteries have been introduced in every district in the county. Volunteers will be asked to monitor the new battery collection boxes. Each volunteer will look after one box, emptying it when full at one of the 18 Household Waste Recycling Centres in Hertfordshire, where the batteries will be taken for reprocessing by European Recycling Platform.

"Batteries are made from important resources and chemicals, including lead, zinc and lithium, that can be reused if they are recycled," said Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for Waste and Chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership. "In Britain, 600 million batteries are being thrown away every year - it's such a waste that so many end up in the bin.

"We have an excellent recycling record in Hertfordshire and through working with local communities our county could be leading the way in recycling these valuable materials. We're still keen to hear from you if you're interested in volunteering, so please get in touch."

If you would like to become a volunteer, you can sign up by contacting CoBRA on 0845 4080337 or by emailing info@cobrascheme.co.uk