Battery Boxes for London

4.17.18pm GMT Thu 15th Dec 2005

Battery collection boxes may soon start to appear in every London home after Euro-MPs backed plans to boost recycling and halt the leaching of acid from old batteries into soil and water.

The European Parliament is calling for a quarter of all household batteries used annually per person to be collected for recycling within six years. Local councils will be expected to make arrangements for the collection of batteries from households. Industry must then ensure that at least half of their content is recycled.

In Britain only industrial and vehicles batteries are recycled at present. Controversially, MEPs have also called for the long term replacement of nickel-cadmium and lead batteries by less toxic alternatives. They want an immediate ban on their use in household products, but have supported exemptions for most other purposes until effective alternatives have been developed.

London's Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford said:

"This is a measured approach that balances the potential hazards of cadmium with the reality that there are no effective alternatives for use in products such as cordless power tools and aviation control systems."

"Cadmium is a carcinogenic substance that accumulates in the human body and is very toxic to aquatic life. We should be looking to develop alternatives and phase out its use, but the immediate priority is simply to make sure that we collect as many cadmium batteries as possible and ensure that they are safely recycled."