Household battery recycling trial
A supermarket in Lincoln township south of Christchurch is taking part in a household battery collection trial, believed to be a first for New Zealand.
In two months ’’an incredible’’ 120 kilograms of batteries have been collected.
‘‘I think some people must have been stashing them in their garage at home wondering what to do with them rather than send toxic material to landfills,’’ according to Dave Fitzjohn of Lincoln Envirotown Trust.
He enlisted the help of Lincoln New World owner operator Kyle Burnett and support from Maria Wake of the Sustainable Initiative Fund Trust.
Fitzjohn said the venture wasn’t expected to make a profit but he hoped it would become self sustaining and would break-even over the next two years.
He contacted Alan Liefting of Ecotech Services in Christchurch where the batteries are sorted, discharged where necessary, and stored for shipment to specialist recycling plants overseas in places like South Korea.
Ecotech is a technology repair and recycling company focusing on electronics, electrical, and computer equipment.
Fitsjohn said as far as his research could tell, there were some battery recyclers but they were mainly for vehicle batteries and were businessto-business ventures not easily found by consumers.
‘‘In France it’s not permissible to throw batteries away for landfill disposal and they have a recycling factory.
‘‘It’s a huge issue with so many electronic goods needing lithium and alkaline batteries.’’
A looming issue for Fitzjohn and his Envirotown Trust colleagues was electric vehicles.
‘‘The batteries are lasting longer but because New Zealand is a small country we don’t have economies of scale for widespread recycling. It’s the same reason why electric cars cost more here.’’