According to recent figures published by the Environment Agency the UK’s 6 battery compliance schemes have collected just 8.58% of waste portable batteries in the first quarter of 2010. This figure is below the 10% target set for the year as a whole.

There are currently many questions being asked about the amount of publicity needed to encourage the general public to recycle more batteries. The coalition government is cutting back on publicity campaigns with Defra’s Christmas 2009 campaign being its 1st and last. Unfortunately many battery schemes look like they will have to promote on their own with only a little support from retailers.

Battery recycling rules started on January 1st 2010 and require battery distributors / retailers to collect 10% of the batteries they put out on the market in 2009. The figures that have been collected for the first quarter of this year as being seen as tricky to base forecasts on how the rest of the year will turn out. However some in the sector think that the chances of the UK hitting the targets that have been set by the EU batteries directive is increasing unlikely.

Batteries Project Manager at the Environment Agency, Bob Mead said “I am not disappointed by the figures. One set of data is insufficient to make predictions for the year.” He added “The government in its impact assessment suggested historic recycling rates of 2-3% a year for portable batteries, so 8% in the first quarter of 2010 can’t be a bad start.”

According to Wandsworth Borough Council in South London the majority of people are still not aware that mobile phones and other electrical devices can be recycled.

In order to mark this week’s Recycle Week the council in Wandsworth will make its environmental experts available to answer recycling questions from the public. People in the area can use this opportunity to find out about the advantages of recycling electrical devices which include environmental benefits and helping them to earn extra money.

People who choose to recycle their old mobile phones and other small electrical devices will be in a much better position to upgrade to the latest models.

In order to make recycling easier in the area Wandsworth Borough Council have also recently been awarded a £5 million recycling fund to improve and create new recycling in flats and other high rise buildings.

Recycle your old mobile phones here

This week the 21st June – 27th June is Recycle Week in the UK. This years Recycle Week is focusing on one material stream in particular which is small waste electrical and electronic equipment. (WEEE)

The aim of Recycle Week is too make people think about the many easy ways that we all can recycle less waste and make more of the current resources we all have.

Many people in the UK admit to hanging onto old electronic devices even if they no longer have a use for them. A recent survey found that 40% of respondents hang onto old electronic devices as they feel too sad to part with them, 41% hope that the old item might come in handy one day, 23% said that electrical items are too valuable to thrown away and 29% keep them because they don’t know how to dispose of them correctly.

In schools across the whole of England, Recycle Now is working with the British Heart Foundation to make it easy for pupils to dig out unused electronic devices and donate them to a good cause.

If you have any small electrical items such as kettles, electric toothbrushes, hair-dryers, toasters or even unused power tools then dig them out and support Recycle Week 2010 by taking them too your local British Heart Foundation Store, where you can donate them and help raise money for charity. Other small and more valuable electrical devices such as laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players and SAT NAVS can be recycled for cash payments at popular recycling sites including Mirror Go Green or Mopay.

According to a poll conducted by leading waste management firm SITA UK it has been found that educating people about how to recycle is the best way to boost recycling rates.

46 respondents took part in the poll, 56% thought education was the key to improving recycling rates, 31% said incentives was the best method and 11% thought fines was the best way to boost rates.

A spokesman for SITA UK, Anthony Durston said “The results of the poll make it clear that education was believed to be the key in recycling practices.”

The results of this survey were released just a week after the new UK coalition government completely dropped Labour’s plans to introduce fines in favour of an incentive based approach.

According to new government plans wheelie bins will be fitted with microchips in order to boost recycling rates.

The government has backed new plans to fit Household bins with microchips which will then be weighed when they are collected. Householders that put waste to be recycled will be rewarded with points that can be redeemed for vouchers up to £130 per year.

For each kilo of recyclable waste that is put out households will be rewarded with 5.5 points.

Chairman of the Environmental Board for the Local Government Association, Gary Porter said that the new scheme had already been rolled out in the borough’s of Windsor and Maidenhead but warned against a nationwide programme. He said that local councils should be able to choose if they implement an incentive programme as it could be hard to implement in places like blocks of flats where they only have a single bin.

Recycling rates in the UK have significantly improved in the last six years. Last year alone over 11 million tonnes of waste was recycled in comparison to just 5.2 million tonnes in 2003/4.

Everyone is always talking about the things that should be sent for recycling in order to help the environment and raise the recycling rate, but nobody ever tells you what items should not be recycled. The following are the items that should not be sent to be recycled:

Juice Boxes / Sticky Pads / Stickers

Any paper or cardboard that has a covering, film or glue on it such as juice boxes, sticky pads or stickers should also be thrown in the non recycling bin as they are also not suitable to be recycled.

Glass Windows / Tableware / Vases

Glass windows, tableware and vases have a much higher melting point than a household jar or bottle so should not be put in your recycling box. Items like these can be disposed of at your local council recycling site.

Broken Glass

Broken glass should be put in the bin rather than put in for recycling simply due to the dangers involved in sorting through it. As light bulbs can be smashed so easily they should also not be put in your household recycling box.

Batteries

Batteries should not be put in your household recycling boxes but instead taken to the shop where you bought them from or any shop that sells batteries who will dispose of them for you.

Any products that have mould growing on them

Any products that would normally be put in for recycling such as jars and bottles should be washed out first. The reason for this is to stop any mould from transferring over to the new products that are made from the recycled waste.

Cardboard Pizza Boxes

Most paper and cardboard should go in your recycling box however pizza boxes contain lots of oil from the pizza that makes them almost impossible to clean and then reuse, the oil can also get onto other paper and cardboard products which also makes them impossible to recycle.

Paper Towels / Wet Tissues

Used paper towels also cannot be recycled like pizza boxes as they will have been used to wipe up other materials. This also applies to wet tissues of any kind as wet fibres can cause problems when it comes to recycling.

Toxic Products

Containers that have had toxic products in should not be recycled, this also includes Aerosol cans. Oil and tyres should also not be put in your household recycling bins but taken to a council recycling centre to be disposed or correctly.

Although the list of items above cannot be recycled in the traditional way they can still be re-purposed, learn how to reuse household items here.