Batteries join up (From Gazette Series)

Batteries join up

BATTERIES will soon be joining bottles, cans and bundles of paper in the district's kerbside recycling boxes.

From April residents will be able to put dead batteries in their green boxes with all their other recyclable waste.

The batteries will then be taken across the Channel where cadmium and zinc will be extracted and re-used.

"There was a place in Avonmouth that did it until recently but unfortunately it closed," said Cllr Dorcas Binns, cabinet member responsible for the environment. "Europe are way ahead of us on this and they've got the facilities so the batteries will be shipped over there."

Bulky goods collected by the council are also to get a new lease of life.

Furniture and white goods are now escaping the landfill as they are taken to a central collection point in Cheltenham where they are picked up by charities who help people kit out their homes.