10 December 2007
Students at Les Quennevais School have been trialling a new battery recycling bank and competing in an inter-house competition to see which house could collect the most batteries for recycling.
The trial has been a huge success with all 3 tubes being filled in only a couple of weeks and Tranter house being the first to fill their 10 litre container.
The tube containers have been provided by Transport and Technical Services to investigate the potential to site battery recycling banks at schools across the island.
It is estimated that local households use an average of 21 batteries a year. These contain harmful chemicals which can cause environmental problems if disposed of with normal household rubbish so it is important that batteries are disposed of separately.
Most components in waste batteries can be recovered so the batteries that are collected for recycling are sent to the UK where they are sorted based on the chemical content of the battery and reprocessed to produce new products, including new batteries.
John Rive, Recycling Officer, Transport and Technical Services said ‘The success of this trial is extremely encouraging. It is important that batteries are separated from household waste and introducing battery recycling banks in schools provides a convenient collection point for students and their families.’
Julie Heseltine, teacher at Les Quennevais School said ‘The Students have really enjoyed participating in this trial and it has increased their awareness of the importance of recycling. We are really pleased that we have helped to increase the number of batteries that are recycled and we will continue to provide this facility for our students.’
Grainville School will be starting a similar trial at the start of the Spring term and Transport and Technical Services are seeking sponsorship of an island-wide school battery recycling scheme to be launched next year.
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