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.

Significant cost implications

As we warned the industry earlier in the year, their failure to implement a holistic national recycling solution for vapes, adopted by their customers, could now see their costs of compliance increase by 500% over the next 3 months with little to no control.

The Environment Agency began the first step of implementing the changes by writing to producer compliance schemes on the 27^th of September. They are now required to disclose the weight of vapes placed on the market by their members so that the cost of collection and treatment at local authority household waste recycling centres can be charged back.

We are expecting a significant initial cost for vape producers. Due to the cost of vape treatment, there is likely to be a large backlog at local authority sites that have been waiting for this change to recycle their vapes at no cost.

With estimates placing grey market and illegal vapes at 45% of those sold and discarded, this will likely result in a disproportionately high cost for responsible vape producers who, having fulfilled their legal obligations by joining a WEEE compliance scheme, now find themselves having to fund the recycling of all vapes, including the contraband. Further to this, the rules do not distinguish between reusable and disposable vapes, so despite producers of reusable vapes being overwhelmingly the most compliant under the WEEE regulations and producing the least waste, they are being dealt a double blow for the cost of recycling.

Managing the impact

With the rumoured ban on disposable vapes unlikely to be implemented before 2025 (if at all), if the vape industry is to bring down the cost of WEEE producer compliance, they must act in unison to take control of the recycling situation. Although we have helped organisations from NHS Trusts and Universities, through to retailers like VPZ and Tesco to implement a vape recycling solution for their customers (we are in fact, close to hitting 5,000 drop-off points across the UK), there is still much to do. A national, coordinated education and collection campaign, driven by the industry would allow them not only greater control over their costs but to encourage responsible recycling, reducing the 700 fires caused by vapes in recycling facilities every year and safeguarding the lithium contained in their devices.

If you’re a vape producer wishing to discuss your obligation with our compliance team, please contact us at compliance@wastecare.co.uk

For more information on our vape and battery collection services, please contact the team at recycling@wastecare.co.uk, or call 0800 091 0000.

In recent years, we have all been witness to a concerning increase in UK battery fires, posing significant risks to public safety and the environment. These fires are often ignited during the disposal and recycling of batteries, which contain hazardous materials like lithium-ion.

This increase has now accelerated sharply, with local authorities across the UK now reporting battery-related fires at their recycling centres and waste facilities on an almost monthly basis. These fires not only endanger workers but also release toxic fumes into the atmosphere contributing to hazardous air pollution. Additionally, the financial burden of extinguishing these fires and addressing their aftermath falls on local communities and taxpayers.

Can we pinpoint the UK battery fire issue?

As a provider of recycling solutions, this dramatic increase in battery fires combined with increased media coverage has become a pressing discussion within Wastecare. We know recycling accessibility is not a barrier, with us as a company alone providing over 30,000 battery collection points nationwide. In addition, the ability to manage increased recycling would also not pose an issue, with our battery processing facility in Halifax offering a capacity capable of recycling 100% of the UK’s used portable batteries. Therefore, we know that it’s not because the means to recycle batteries aren’t there ­­- the British public simply doesn’t feel incentivised to carry it out.

With millions of portable batteries on the UK market, analysing the attitudes towards batteries themselves may expose the root of the problem. Batteries are an easy commodity to come by in your local supermarket or electronics retailer, with a range of price points making them accessible to a majority. In regards to the disposal of these, statistics show that the average person in the UK will throw away 10 portable batteries a year. Our assumption, therefore, is that if one individual is throwing less than one portable battery away a month it may not feel like a pressing issue to recycle them – due to the infrequent habit of having to do it. However, the cumulative impact of this action on a yearly basis equates to over 600 million batteries.

What’s more, the knock-on effect of low recycling volumes continues to impact the battery producers themselves. With revised battery regulations expected in 2024/25, if the current levels of recycling are maintained the UK is unlikely to meet its battery recycling targets – significantly impacting obligations costs for compliant producers.

So how can we influence public behaviour?

Motivating a habit change – Consumer-facing businesses manufacturing or distributing portable batteries have a responsibility to provide incentives to recycle them. Point-of-sale call-to-actions are often relied upon to remind consumers to recycle, however, the ability to provide further education via digital platforms should not be overlooked. Campaigns such as Material Focus’ ‘Hypnocat’, are brilliant examples of using positive and engaging social media messaging to emphasise the dangers of not recycling WEEE. With large platforms with a high reach across the UK, major retailers have a responsibility to use these social platforms to provide education on recycling initiatives and support their consumers on how and where they can access collection points.

Looking within the workplace – Although digital campaigns have a place and can have significant reach, the power of education drives within the workplace shouldn’t be underestimated. With companies and offices nationwide containing hundreds of thousands of portable battery consumers – implementing internal communications on recycling along with convenient collection solutions within local areas can be a valuable addition to aiding consumer consciousness. This can have a two-fold impact – managing the usage of WEEE products using portable batteries in the workplace, whilst encouraging employees to utilise collection points to recycle their own household batteries.

Local authorities reporting fires – The unfortunate inevitability is that battery-related fires are unlikely to slow down until recycling rates rise significantly. By reporting fires occurring in local authorities’ recycling facilities and waste centres, this key trend data is key to getting public attention on how serious the problem has become.

Conclusion

Ultimately, all those who play a role in the life cycle of portable batteries have a responsibility to educate and support the wider UK population on battery recycling. This will require a cohesive and joint-up approach, as we know one consistent message is far more effective than a confusing narrative of conflicting instructions.

From our standpoint, it is about emphasising the impact of battery fires in a way that resonates with the majority of consumers whilst aiding convenient and easy collection – resulting in a culture change making battery recycling as habitual as putting out your household waste black bin. Imminent pan-industry schemes are set to be implemented, however, large retailers serving much of the UK population also have a responsibility to harness the platforms they have to influence battery consumer habits.

The Wastecare team are back from a jam-packed two days at the Resource and Waste Management Expo at the NEC – and it did not disappoint! As one of the key sponsors of the event, with our logo gracing the entranceways and lanyards, and our famous Silver Lady Bus standing proudly on our stand – we were hard to miss.

There was a tangible buzz about this year’s event, with the exhibition taking on a new format under the ESS umbrella, hosting all the major players in recycling, waste management, contamination and flood management, energy and decarbonisation. This meant two days of non-stop delegate footfall and meetups with new and familiar faces across the sustainability sector – including an impromptu photoshoot with the Wombles to top it all off.

Aside from the reunions and the laughter, it didn’t go amiss the importance of these exhibitions and showcasing our commitment as a company to the sector. We pride ourselves on our honesty and transparency within Wastecare, and spending time with those within the wider industry only motivates us further to provide both the commercial and industrial sectors with the highest standards of reuse, recovery and recycling – using sustainable practices every time.

Valuable catchups

The Wastecare team were thrilled to be inundated with visits from our respected and long-standing peers within the industry, as we know the value of face-to-face catchups with those we work with daily to strengthen our relationships. Not only was it a great opportunity to reconnect, but there were a multitude of new faces stopping by keen to gain some insight on the spectrum of waste streams and recycling solutions we have on offer and what it’s like to work with Wastecare.

“Wastecare is aways extremely proud to participate in the RWM as it provides a collaborative platform for the waste management industry to come together and exchange ideas. We firmly believe that by engaging with both current and potential customers, we can gain deeper insights into their specific requirements and develop tailored solutions that address their environmental goals, cost efficiencies, and operational effectiveness” commented Wastecare’s Sales Director Matt Stoneman on the exhibition.”

Mr Stoneman went on to discuss the value of exhibiting at the show: “As a result of the RWM we have established numerous promising business connections and leads indicating keen interest in our comprehensive waste management solutions. We remain committed to collaborating with industry stakeholders, supporting sustainable practices, and delivering cutting-edge waste management solutions to our existing and potential customers. By actively engaging with customers through events such as these, the company continues to solidify its position within the ecosystem as a trusted partner for innovative waste management strategies across the UK.”

 

Battery fires and packaging EPR

Battery fires and disposable vapes were unsurprisingly a common topic of conversation, with growing concerns from local authorities on how to handle the significant increase in landfill fires. As one of the leading battery collection providers across the country, with extended vape collection solutions also on the horizon, discussing viable solutions to these issues was commonplace over the two days.

Our producer compliance team also met with current and prospective scheme members, to discuss the series of upcoming regulation changes for battery and packaging, as well as the DRS. Catchups also covered the packaging EPR – a well-documented regulation in the UK media currently, with reporting deadlines delayed until May next year – with the team providing advice and guidance to peers on how they can support them with this change.

Our key takeaways

So after another successful year at the exhibition, we are yet again reminded of the importance of collaboration within the waste and recycling sector. Transparent and honest conversations about the waste management industry’s challenges are what we pride ourselves on here at Wastecare, and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing with delegates how we’re innovating our approaches to ensure simple and cost-effective solutions remain at the forefront of our service.

If you met with us at RWM, we thank you for dropping by and look forward to catching up soon. If you couldn’t make it to this years exhibition, Peter and the team would welcome you to get in touch.

Until next year, the Wastecare team and the Silver Lady – over and out!

Wastecare Group, a specialist in hazardous waste management solutions, is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Stage 1 audit for ISO 45001 certification. This achievement underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to maintaining the highest standards in occupational health and safety management systems.

ISO 45001 is an internationally recognised standard that sets out requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an occupational health and safety management system. This standard places paramount importance on ensuring a safe and secure work environment for employees, contractors, and all stakeholders associated with an organisation’s operations.

The Stage 1 audit is a critical milestone, involving a comprehensive assessment of the company’s practices in line with the ISO 45001 standard’s requirements. The benefits for companies such as Wastecare moving onto Stage 2 of implementing the system, and gaining the certificate, include:

• Ensuring an organisation’s reputation as a safe place to work is promoted
• Improving its ability to respond to regulatory compliance issues
• Reducing the overall costs of incidents
• Reducing downtime and the costs of disruption to operations
• Reducing the cost of insurance premiums
• Reducing absenteeism and employee turnover rates
• Recognition for having achieved an international benchmark

“We are thrilled to have passed Stage 1 of the ISO 45001 certification process,” said Helen Kellett, Head of Quality & Environmental at Wastecare Group. “This achievement validates our ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety and welfare of our employees, customers, and the communities we serve. We firmly believe that a strong occupational health and safety management system is not only a regulatory requirement but also a cornerstone of our company values.”

Wastecare Group is now looking ahead to the Stage 2 audit, scheduled for January 2024 across their sites nationwide. Successful completion of this stage will result in the award of ISO 45001 certification, reinforcing Wastecare’s position as an industry leader in safety and responsible business practices.

In a paper published by the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), they present the Circular Economy from the perspective of a scientific field whose historic theories and findings inspired the concept – Industrial Ecology.

Industrial Ecology is ‘the study of systemic relationships between society, the economy, and the natural environment. It focuses on the use of technology to reduce environmental impacts and reconcile human development with environmental stewardship while recognising the importance of socioeconomic factors in achieving these goals’^[1]

Industrial Ecology is a field which draws several comparisons from that of natural ecology to improve resource efficiency. Scientists of the field study how the current industrial system works, how it is regulated, and its interaction with world’s ecosystems. These relationships with our natural ecosystems are the key – as our industrial systems must be compatible with and not hinder the way they function. As a result, industrial ecologists seek ways in which to restructure our industrial systems to allow for this.

The ISIE’s report uses the theory of industrial ecology to breakdown how it can be applied to the concept of circular economy. In breaking it down into 10 key insights, the report looks to encourage policy-makers to use the field to develop and implement successful and sustainable approaches to a circular economy.[2]

Some of their key insights include:

Nature offers a model for industry

The circular economy needs to be inspired by the way natural eco systems close their material and energy loops – producing very little waste, and material matter decomposing or being recycled continuously. Society must achieve the concept of ‘Industrial Symbiosis.’

Societies metabolise like organisms

The idea that societies must take on the concept of socio-economic metabolism, to use labour, capital, and technology, to develop ways to transform energy and material sources into goods and services. Thereby reducing society’s wastes and emissions.

We cannot do without the environment

Our socio-economic systems are dependent on natural ecosystems – so we cannot surpass their limit to supply resources and absorb waste. We need to reduce pressures on the environment through circular use of resources.

Environmental impacts are inevitable

A fully circular economy is impossible – as some industrial systems are solely reliant on nature. Instead of always aiming for zero-impact, it’s about strategising to make trade-offs between environmental and social/economic benefits.

A life cycle perspective avoids burden shifting

We need to look at the inputs and outputs of materials and energy across the entire life cycle of a product, service or system – not shifting the burden between stages or categories. The ISIE use the example of an energy-efficient building project, which may require materials which are energy intensive to manufacture and require harmful chemicals. The energy savings as a result of the final building are therefore greatly offset by the manufacturing stages.

Early systemic intervention prevents waste

To reduce impact, we need to take a systemic approach to products to enable for greater environmental benefits when they reach their end of life. Design improvements to the initial products, and advancements in recycling technology, will allow for optimised disassembly and recycling at the end of the life cycle.

Whether you’re a large conglomerate or local SME – how you approach your material and energy sources across your entire infrastructure is critical to contributing to a circular economy – and one which policy-makers will draw inspiration from.

Managing waste streams efficiently will enable recycling, reuse, and regeneration, reflecting the energy loops of our natural ecosystems – whilst in turn protecting them, so we don’t surpass their limit to supply resources and absorb waste.

Read the ISIE’s full report here.

For more on the International Society for Industrial Ecology, click here.

We would also recommend taking a look through the report’s listed references for further reading.

About WasteCare Group

Established in 1980, the WasteCare Group is a specialist in recycling and waste management, based at 9 regional service centres and 8 recycling facilities throughout the UK. They collect and recycle over 200,000 tonnes of hazardous and difficult waste on behalf of over 20,000 organisations annually across the country.

WasteCare’s growth and success is due to their commitment to providing their clients with a first-class service combined with the highest environmental standards. As a private company, they are continually investing in innovative technology and sustainable growth. This has enabled them to combine a deep understanding of our clients’ requirements, with a uniquely flexible service that can be readily tailored to any organisational requirement, within an evolving market and ever-changing regulation.

The waste industry is highly regulated and complex, so WasteCare strive to set their standards higher than those mandated by legislation and embrace technology to improve service levels to their customers.

[1] What is industrial ecology? – International Society for Industrial Ecology – ISIE (is4ie.org)

[2] 10 Insights from Industrial Ecology for the Circular Economy – International Society for Industrial Ecology – ISIE (is4ie.org)

WasteCare are excited to announce that we will be exhibiting and officially sponsoring the upcoming Resource & Waste Management Expo 2023 at the NEC Birmingham in September.

Tarmac, a UK business specialising in sustainable building materials and construction solutions, have pulled together a specialist report which they are hoping will ‘ignite action’ across the industry when it comes to responsible waste management.

This report was a response to a mandatory digital waste tracking policy looking to be launched toward the end of 2023/beginning of 2024, the result of which the spotlight will be on the Construction, Demolition and Excavation (CD&E) sectors to prioritise reuse and recycling in their waste strategies. Making up 68% of all waste in the UK, the CD&E sector, if working in one joined-up approach, could have an instrumental impact towards achieving a more circular, net-zero future for the nation.

To do this, Tarmac cites the need for ‘A change in mindset – It’s not waste, it’s a resource’.

To drive efficiencies toward a circular economy, Defra announced in early 2022 their intentions to launch a mandatory digital waste tracking policy across the UK. Their overall incentive for this policy was to:

“Support the effective regulation of waste, transforming the way environmental regulators monitor compliance, prioritise regulatory activities and help prevent waste crime, including fly tipping, deliberate misclassification of waste, illegal waste exports and the operation of illegal waste sites.”

With the CD&E sector generating 138 million tonnes in the UK in 2018, the spotlight is firmly on them to be an instrumental player in this initiative.

Historically, although a company’s legal obligation and duty of care under Section 34 of the Environment Protection Act is to ensure that waste is dealt with correctly, there has often been the attitude that their responsibility as an individual organisation ends once the waste has been handed on. However this responsibility is meant to extend across the entire process – with company’s obligated to track that their waste is being managed responsibly once transferred to a licensed waste carrier. This is where digital waste tracking will expose where in the waste chain the CD&E sector are not fulfilling this duty of care.

Responsible waste management needs to, in our eyes, be managed simply, reliably, and honestly. Fast moving sectors such as CD&E, need contractors who can provide easy-to-integrate and sustainable workflows. If dealing with waste management becomes a burden, this has a knock-on effect on good practice – the production of waste is a never-ending cycle which cannot be paused if the management system in place is not functional.

This is where services such as myWaste are pivotal. A comprehensive, online overview of a company’s waste streams, including hazardous or challenging waste, with tracking and data outputs to keep them compliant with the latest environmental regulations. Ultimately – digitising the entire process to support a company’s shift into mandatory digital waste tracking.

In addition, tools such as myWaste also communicates the bigger picture to the sector. By providing a facility to track recycling costs and see in real-time the value of what is being recovered, it becomes a motivator to improve the sector’s overall performance and influence its environmental impact. As cited in the Tarmac report: “More must be done to see waste as a valuable resource and optimise its use instead of choosing landfill.”

Approaching this change in how waste is managed for the CD&E sector needs to be proactive, in order for mandatory digital tracking obligations to feel manageable – and not a burden on those responsible for it. By getting systems in place now, rather than reactively, will allow for a learning curve period which will kick start efficiencies in reuse and recycling of CD&E waste.

Read the full Tarmac Specialist Report here: 14388.001_Tarmac-Landfill-White-Paper-v9-1.pdf (windows.net)

For more information on the proposed mandatory digital waste tracking policy, and delivery timelines, visit: Mandatory digital waste tracking – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Information on WasteCare‘s waste management services, and how to sign up to the myWaste app can be found here.

Specialist waste management firm, WasteCare, has opened the UK’s first full-scale household battery recycling facility following approval from the Environment Agency (EA). 

The £2 million state-of-the-art facility in Elland, West Yorkshire has processing capacity for 25,000 tonnes of household batteries meaning it can recycle all UK’s spent alkaline batteries and avoid them being shipped to mainland Europe for treatment.

The fully automated facility receives mixed consumer batteries from collection points throughout the UK. An innovative sorting process then separates the batteries by size and chemistry. The alkaline and Zinc Carbon batteries enter a sealed processing unit which boasts specially designed filtration and environmental monitoring systems. The batteries are pulverized before moving on to a multi-staged separation and extraction process. This allows the component materials to be separated so they can be reused by manufacturers as secondary raw materials.

Graeme Parkin, Chief Operating Officer of the WasteCare Group, who has overseen the development of this new facility, said: “We are proud to have delivered this world class facility which has the capability to treat all the UK’s alkaline batteries. It represents the first phase of our ambitious investment programme, to develop UK recycling solutions for other battery chemistries in order to meet the projected demand in the UK. We are already at an advanced stage in developing a downstream process that will allow raw materials to be re-used directly in battery manufacturing and this plant should be operational towards the end of 2021.”

WasteCare has been recycling batteries through a small-scale pilot plant since 2017. This has enabled the company to develop and introduce a number of technological improvements that ensure this full-scale plant delivers recycling and recovery rates greater than any other battery recycling facility around the world. As such it sets a new benchmark for the best available recovery and treatment techniques.

Humans are purchasing a million plastic bottles every year [source].

Efforts to make changes are slow-moving.

Recycling helps, but did you know than in 2016 fewer than half of all plastic bottles were collected for recycling [source]?

Doing our bit for the environment goes beyond using a recycling bin. We have to go further back, and consider our purchasing decisions. Here are three ways to make easy changes:

Think about what you drink

Drinking tap water, and using a refillable bottle, is the best way to keep your plastic consumption to a minimum. If you really don’t want water, then drinking squash is the next best option. One bottle of squash makes dozens of drinks, whilst you’ll only get 8 servings out of a 2L bottle of soft drink.

If it has to be a soft drink and nothing else will do, then you might be surprised to hear that bigger is better. A 500ml bottle contains 25g of plastic, whilst a 2L bottle contains 50g. That’s only double the plastic, for four times as much to drink!

Swap your bathroom products

It’s thought that more than 552 million bottles are being added to landfill each year, and that only 1 in 5 people recycle their bathroom items. Many people don’t even realise that their shampoo bottles can be recycled. Always look for the logo on the bottle.

To reduce your plastic use in the bathroom, move to bars of soap instead of liquid soap. Swap your shampoo for a shampoo bar, and consider conditioner in a glass jar instead of a plastic container. You might even like to use a jar of raw coconut oil, instead of a commercial hair product.

One man’s trash…

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Before you buy anything new, look on Facebook Marketplace or visit a local charity shop. Often, the plastic things we buy don’t need to be new at all.

Buying second hand more frequently will also reduce your expenses. You’ll save money and help the environment, by giving plastic items a new lease of life. Plastic is easy to clean and disinfect, so you don’t need to worry about an item’s previous use.

The statistics are shocking, but with careful waste management and more considerate shopping decisions, there’s still time to turn things around.