Saturday 2 January 2010

First It Was Lightbulbs...

...now it's batteries:
The price of batteries is set to rise under European recycling laws that burden shops with more red tape.

Thousands of stores will next month be required to set up recycling bins and arrange for batteries to be disposed of safely. The extra costs are expected to be passed on to shoppers.
Just what's needed in the teeth of global recession, right?

And it gets worse:
Any store selling more than one four-pack of AA batteries a day will have to accept used ones from shoppers, regardless of where the batteries were bought.
*speechless*
The used batteries will be collected by a fleet of recycling vans licensed to carry hazardous waste.
Err, but wait a min...
But critics say the extra road journeys could easily wipe out any environmental benefit of recycling.
It's not about being 'green'.

It's about control, and expanding the state. And it always has been.
...the European Recycling Platform, a waste collection company, said there is public support for an initiative that makes it easy to recycle batteries.
Is there? Were you ever asked? I certainly wasn't.

And no doubt the people who were asked didn't think of the possible consequences of agreeing, did they?

9 comments:

Furor Teutonicus said...

Every super market here has battery collection boxes.

Cardboard, about 20 CM square. Picked up by the ordinary bin men, and put in aspecialy built box in the cab.

Bloody SIMPLE.

WHY does the U.K have to make a poblem of EVERYTHING?

Witterings from Witney said...

Err, doesn't every council tip have a special used battery collection point?

So in effect the EU wants us to pay three times for waste handling? Waste removal, landfill and now batteries? A basic Anglo-Saxon two-word phrase springs to mind!

Curmudgeon said...

And I suspect 95% of people will still just put used batteries in the bin anyway. Until they start analysing your rubbish and fining you for that :-(

Leg-iron said...

The small shops will only have one option to avoid the extra costs. Stop selling batteries. They'll be harder to find than filament light bulbs.

Supermarket two-for-the-price-of-one offers will be targeted as 'irresponsible' soon because it's the same technique again. Make it evil, control it, then ban it. We will only be allowed to have a ration of rechargeables.

Thing is, rechargeables only have 1.2 volts compared to the 1.5 volts of dry and alkaline cells. So if you have something that needs six batteries, it runs at 9 volts on dry/alkalines. Replace them with rechargeables and it's only getting 7.2 volts and might not work at all.

But hey, it's for the Planet, innit?

Joe Public said...

The "Hazardous Waste" bit catches the eye.

OK some are Lithium, but most are Zinc & Carbon

Perhaps they'll be forcible recycling of 'lead' pencils next.

wv - I'll auction it - & expect Mt Penguin to submit a high bid. it's rantiest

banned said...

How long before they make it illegal for shops to supply you with batteries unless you swap them for old dead leaking ones?

JuliaM said...

"Bloody SIMPLE.

WHY does the U.K have to make a poblem of EVERYTHING?"


Because our rulers are both corrupt and incompetent.

Oh, wait. That was a rhetorical question, I think..? ;)

And, of course, there's the opportunity to increase the public sector payroll...

"So in effect the EU wants us to pay three times for waste handling?"

Yup!

"And I suspect 95% of people will still just put used batteries in the bin anyway."

I certainly will!

"The small shops will only have one option to avoid the extra costs. Stop selling batteries."

Boot sale season starts in a few weeks. Time to stock up.

JuliaM said...

"Perhaps they'll be forcible recycling of 'lead' pencils next."

Oh, we don't want to go down the insane US route with regards to lead, I hope.

Or, do we..?

"How long before they make it illegal for shops to supply you with batteries unless you swap them for old dead leaking ones?"

Argh! Don't give them IDEAS! ;)

Anonymous said...

One fewer item that small outlets will be selling, then.

These initiatives tend to favour big business, which can afford to absorb the costs.

On the plus side, we might see some innovation in battery-making via cottage industries. Might have a stab at it myself!