A Tonne of Batteries Recycled in Unique Project

In April 2017 the Lincoln Envirotown Trust delivered 40 Kgs of batteries to Ecotech Services in Christchurch for them to undergo a recycling process instead of going to landfill. The Batteries are deposited by members of the public into the recycling container provided at Lincoln New World. In early September of this year the 1000^th kilogram was delivered.

As Lincoln Envirotown and New World started the project, there was simply no way of knowing how people would react and what sort of response there would be. It was envisaged that there may be an early influx of batteries as people cleared out those they had stored without any clear sustainable way of disposing of them but that after that there would be a drop off. In fact the opposite has happened with the numbers of batteries deposited growing in most months. Some months have seen more than 100 Kgs deposited.

Lincoln Envirotown Trust would like to congratulate and thank the public for their continued and growing support of this project. It is quite clear that where the means are provided in an easy accessible way, people will dispose of waste products responsibly and not add to potentially toxic landfill.

The Trust has had numerous enquiries about this project from all over New Zealand and some congratulations from overseas. This seems to be recognised as the only scheme of its kind in the country where people can drop off their household batteries at a convenient frequented location to be properly processed and not add to our waste.

They would also like to thank Selwyn District Council, The Sustainable Initiative Fund Trust, Lincoln New World and Ecotech Services who enabled the initiative to start and have given ongoing support to the project.

We look forward to hearing of other similar initiatives throughout the country and our next tonne collection!