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Batteries should be carefully recycled and its important that you dispose of them at the correct bins at your local council waste depot.

In the UK, only about three to five per cent of all household batteries are recycled. Most old batteries end up in landfill, where they can leak harmful chemicals into the soil. You can help tackle this problem by recycling your batteries anywhere you see the Be Positive sign.

Some household batteries contain chemicals like lead, mercury or cadmium. If batteries are thrown into your normal rubbish bin, they are likely to end up in landfill. Once buried, the batteries start to break down, and can leak some of these chemicals into the ground. This can cause soil and water pollution, which may be a health risk for humans.

Recycling avoids this and can also help recover some of the raw materials used for making batteries. These can be used to make other products. So recycling can save some of the planet’s resources, by reducing the need to mine new materials.

What happens to the used batteries?

Recycled batteries are first sorted into different types – for example lithium, alkaline, lead cell, mercury button – as each type is recycled differently. Lead acid batteries (used for car batteries) and mercury button cell batteries (the flat, round, silver batteries found in watches) are fully recycled in the UK.

Lithium and alkaline batteries (AA, AAA and 9v batteries) are part-recycled in the UK, and then sent to plants abroad for the rest of the process. Other types of battery are sent abroad, as the UK does not currently have plants that can recycle these.

Car batteries have very dangerous acids and materials in them and they should be taken to you local waste depot to dispose of properly in one of their battery recycling bins.

More information on companies who do battery recycling

Battery recycling is an important