Batteries that are thrown in the bin amount to a large amount of the waste that ends up at Britain’s landfills. Once at landfill batteries leak dangerous chemicals into the soil which will cause damage to the environment. To try and avoid these problems strict guidelines and regulations have been set for companies that produce and manufacture batteries in the UK.

The new Waste Batteries and Accumulators regulations state that any company that either imports or manufacturers at least 1 tonne of batteries in the UK will be responsible for sorting out the waste and recycling and cleaning up the mess. The amount they will have to recycle will depend on how much of the market they share. Each company that produces over a tonne of batteries will have to register with Environmental Agencies in the UK.

Companies that manufacture less than 1 tonne of batteries will not be held accountable by the new regulations although they must still register with the National Producer Responsibility Database.

Duracell one of the biggest manufacturers of batteries has recently signed a new agreement to help consumers recycle their old batteries by promoting the ways that this can be done. The agreement comes after a new EU directive will force every battery producer that makes over a tonne of batteries to get involved in the recycling of the products they make.

By October, 15th 2009 all producers of batteries must get involved in a community scheme for recycling them or they will receive penalties or fines from the EU.

Duracell is now waiting for their new battery recycling scheme to be approved by the Environment Agency. Duracell who currently produce over half of all batteries sold in the UK are confident their scheme will be accepted and state that as an industry leader it was their duty to get involved quickly.

The new EU law will not only apply to battery manufacturers but also shops that sell them. Any shops that sell more than 32 KG of batteries will be forced to set up in store recycling for consumer’s used batteries.