The East London Waste Authority (ELWA) has partnered with Wastecare Group to host their battery recycling campaign across four London Boroughs during 2023 Recycling Week.

The Waste Prevention Programme team at ELWA and the four Constituent Councils have been touring the boroughs of Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Barking and Dagenham, with the colossal ‘Jumbo the Battery Elephant.’ Drawing crowds at the Liberty and Mercury Shopping Centre in Havering on its first stop of the week, Jumbo has now taken to the Stratford Shopping Centre in Newham to emphasise the scale of improper battery disposal.

Jumbo’s next stop on his tour will be the Exchange Ilford in Redbridge, followed by Dagenham Library in Barking and Dagenham. Visitors will have the opportunity to chat with the team on how and where to dispose of their batteries and small electrical appliances safely across East London, as well as drop off their used batteries next to Jumbo himself. These batteries will be responsibly collected and processed by Wastecare Group to ensure proper recycling and disposal.

Mr Matt Stoneman, Sales Director of Wastecare, expressed his enthusiasm for the campaign, stating, “We believe that by bringing Jumbo the Battery Elephant to London’s bustling shopping centres, we can make a meaningful impact in raising awareness about the importance of battery recycling. Together with ELWA, we are committed to creating a cleaner, more sustainable future for London.”

Mariam Bajulaiye, the Waste Prevention Manager at the East London Waste Authority (ELWA) highlighted that this partnership campaign across the four Constituent Councils of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge will support residents to understand the necessary steps required to appropriately recycle batteries and disposable vapes. Residents are urged to make sure they dispose of old batteries and disposable vapes correctly, either at local shops with a battery bank or at their local recycling centre. The four reuse and recycling centres in ELWA have a dedicated battery recycling and vape recycling bank.

This unique collaboration between ELWA and Wastecare demonstrates their shared dedication to environmental responsibility and community education. For more information about ELWA’s appropriate battery recycling campaign, please visit [https://www.eastlondonwaste.gov.uk/batteries/] or contact Mariam Bajulaiye at enquiries@eastlondonwaste.gov.uk or 020 8724 5803.

About ELWA:

The East London Waste Authority (ELWA) is a statutory joint waste disposal authority, responsible for the sustainable treatment and disposal of waste collected by the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge, along with the operation of four Reuse and Recycling Centres.  Approximately 450,000 tonnes of waste is delivered to ELWA by the Constituent Councils each year, collected from over 1.1 million residents.

We are pleased to announce the launch of Battrecycle – a new nationwide partnership to increase battery collection volumes and recycling across the UK. Much like its predecessor BatteryBack, this will be a free service funded by battery compliance schemes including Wastecare Compliance. The campaign’s objectives are to raise awareness of the importance of battery recycling, improve the visibility and accessibility of recycling collection points, and motivate the British public to incorporate it into their everyday routines.

About Battrecycle

Battrecycle will be a National Partnership open to all Battery Compliance Schemes and their members, launching with over 30,000 collection points and counting. Supported by a nationwide digital marketing campaign to educate and raise awareness of battery recycling, the #BigYellowBatteryBin will provide clearly identifiable collection points for consumers to deposit their dead batteries.

To increase accessibility and ease of use, the Battrecycle online collection point locater will enable consumers to identify their closest Battrecycle bin. In addition, local authorities, schools, and other retailers can also become a Battrecycle collection point, with free collections of their batteries to increase recycling in their area.

Supporting local community projects

In addition to increasing battery recycling, Battrecycle will be committed to supporting local communities. For every battery recycled, Battrecycle will fund community projects designed to educate on and increase local access to the environment. In time, Battrecycle users will be able to assign which local community project they would like to ‘contribute’ their dead batteries to, and follow the progress and success stories of these projects on Battrecycle’s social media channels and website.

Be a part of the Battrecycle Campaign

If you’re a local authority, school, producer or brand who wants to support the Battrecycle campaign – firstly, thank you! If you’re sharing your battery recycling efforts on social media, be sure to hashtag #TheBigYellowBatteryBin.

Interested in becoming a Battrecycle collection point? Simply email hello@battrecycle.org

If you are a battery compliance scheme or battery producer and would like to join the Battrecycle partnership, please contact the team here.

Wastecare are extremely proud to re-introduce our newsletter series – The Sustainable Insider. This bi-monthly newsletter will provide insights into the world of hazardous waste management and recycling, from the wider sector as a whole down to the perspectives of Wastecare themselves.

As always, we try to have a fresh and transparent approach to helping our customers and clients navigate the complexities of waste management regulations, learn about some of the innovations from within the sector, and hopefully provide ways in which to recover more value from waste. At the same time, we share our views on the challenges and opportunities that we see in our industry.

In our October 2023 edition, we discuss:

• The upcoming launch of our new battery collection and recycling initiative Battrecycle
• Our experience exhibiting at the recent RWM Exhibition
• The success of our partnership with Podback to rollout coffee pod collections nationwide
• The EPR data delays for packaging producers
• Defra’s introduction of a new de facto EEE category for vapes
• Investigate how influencing public behaviour could reduce battery fires

We will also have a dedicated producer compliance section, to ensure our WEE, battery, and packaging scheme members are kept up to date with the latest regulations surrounding their obligations and data submission deadlines. With upcoming webinars hosted by our Producer Compliance team, and guidance on navigating the complexities of the EPR deadline delayed until May 2024, we will endeavour to use this newsletter to alleviate the extra burden producers are currently facing.

This renewed newsletter will also see an introduction from our Chairman Peter Hunt, who will undoubtedly provide an honest and upfront reflection on the waste sector as we navigate reducing companies’ waste and recovering value.

We hope you enjoy October’s issue of The Sustainable Insider.

View our newsletter here.

Alternatively, download our newsletter here.

For media enquiries, please contact marketing@wastecare.co.uk.