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.

Under new government plans to increase the amount of recycling that is done in the UK householders could be forced to have six bins and check through every piece of rubbish.

Under the new ‘zero waste’ plans there will be separate bins for plastic bottles, glass, cardboard, paper, tin and garden waste. There will also be a slop bucket in every kitchen for food waste. If people put the wrong items in the wrong bins then fines will be imposed by local councils of up to £500.

These new recycling measures are expected to become available by 2020. A new consumer campaign will also be launched which will explain exactly which materials should go in which bins.

The local government association said it would cost £1.1 billion to set up the new ‘zero waste’ scheme which would mean an extra £50 per year on the average council tax bill.

Currently in the UK over half of all rubbish is ending up at landfill which equates to a massive 62 million tonnes. With the new recycling measures in place the amount of waste going to landfill would be cut in half.

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After the UK recently coming under fire for not reaching many recycling targets set by the EU, a new report has been released that shows that recycling packaging rates in Britain have actually doubled over the past 10 years.

The report showed that although the amount of packaging used per person has stayed about the same, the amount that is being recycled has more than doubled from the period 1998 to 2008.

A spokesperson for the Industry Council for Packaging said the new figures were well above the EU average which is great news for recycling in the UK. The council also said that everyone in Britain should be given a pat on the back due to a large part of recycling packaging is due to people getting involved in local schemes.

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A new report claims that more than £650 million is being lost by throwing away rubbish instead of recycling it.

Senior waste campaigner at Friends of the Earth, Dr Michael Warhurst recognises that recycling rates across the UK have improved but urged for more action. “Our low recycling rate means that we have to import more expensive resources like aluminium – this is economic madness when they could be recycled here and sold for a profit instead”.

“It’s time we recognised the real value of the materials we throw away every day. We only have one Earth and its resources are finite – making better use of them would save money and help tackle climate change.”

Friends of the Earth explained that approximately 24 million tonnes of recyclable goods are being incinerated or sent to landfill across European countries. The suggest more focus on recycling will significantly reduce carbon emissions and imports.

All this comes at a time when the economy is at a low point, a reset button has been pressed if you will. The old economy collapsed and now we can build and grow green, eco friendly ideas from the ground up.

We can eliminate the concept of waste through design, and that’s what is happening in many new green products now. The next economic boom will be full of efficient, recyclable and low wastage products along with new companies that will pay cash for recycling items like mobile phones and other gadgets.