Cambridge City Council has installed a new battery recycling point in the Customer Service Centre at Mandela House, Regent Street.
All small household batteries can be taken to the special collection bin, including AA, cell, mobile phone and laptop batteries. The recycling point is the second of its kind in Cambridge; the other is in the foyer of the Waitrose store in Trumpington.
Colin Rosenstiel, Executive Councillor for Environmental & Waste Services, said "I welcome the addition of this central recycling point and encourage everyone to use it to keep batteries out of landfill sites. I look forward to seeing more places around Cambridge where batteries can be recycled."
Rebecca Weymouth, Recycling & Waste Minimisation Officer, said, "We've been planning a battery recycling point in the city centre for some time, and now that the Customer Service centre has opened it is the ideal spot. Batteries contain chemicals, which are extracted when they are recycled but can be harmful if they are disposed of incorrectly. The best options are to avoid using batteries by using a mains adaptor, or use rechargeable batteries."
Since the City Council opened the recycling point in Waitrose, about 60,000 batteries have been collected there. The old batteries are taken away by G&P Batteries and sorted in a UK facility before being sent for recycling in Europe. The metal casings are melted down and recycled, and the chemicals are extracted to be reused in other applications.
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