Firefighters and local recycling officers have teamed up to launch a new campaign urging people to ‘BeBatterySavvy’ and recycle their batteries separately and safely.

The campaign has come about after a series of battery-related fires across the recycling and waste industry.

If electrical products are disposed of with batteries still inside, they can be damaged during transit and potentially cause intense fires.

All of Merseyside’s Recycling Centres accept separate batteries and electrical appliances that have had batteries removed. However, not all sites can safely take appliances which still contain batteries.

It is recognised that it is sometimes not possible to remove batteries from electrical products and therefore, as part of the campaign, three of the Merseyside Household Waste Recycling Centres will have dedicated “Small Appliances with Batteries” containers where people can take those products that still contain batteries.

The three dedicated sites are:

? South Sefton Household Waste Recycling Centre, Irlam Road, Bootle L20 4AE

? Old Swan Household Waste Recycling Centre, Cheadle Avenue, Liverpool L13 3AF

? Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre, Wilson Road, Huyton L36 6AD

All of the Merseyside Recycling Centres (including the three above) will be able to accept separated batteries and electrical appliances that have had batteries removed.

Wherever possible, customers are being asked to separate batteries from electrical appliances to reduce the risk of fire.

Putting batteries safely in the special battery disposal containers ensures they are properly identified, carefully handled and transported safely to specialist recycling facilities.

Many shops have a battery bank for ordinary household batteries – to find out where locally, visit www.recyclenow.com.

For more information about battery recycling across Merseyside visit www.merseysidewda.gov.uk/waste-recycling/recycle-batteries-separately/

Batteries, especially rechargeable ones, are used in all kinds of products, from mobile phones and cameras to vaping devices as well as cordless appliances and equipment like vacuum cleaners and DIY tools.

There were nearly 130 fires thought to have been caused by batteries across the UK in 2017-18 and in February 2019, there was a large battery fire at a St Helens-based Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment plant.

This initiative is spearheaded locally by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) working with Axion, Eunomia Consulting, S Norton, Veolia, Viridor and Wastecare.

The project is funded by the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) Fund generated from the WEEE Compliance Fee in 2017.

Corporate Communications