International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

Table 25-5: Average Cost per Kilogramme of Portable Batteries Collected and
Recycled
Collection Collection Scheme
Kerbside
Kerbside
(Community)
(Community)
Kerbside
Kerbside
(Mu (Municipal) (Mu nicipal)
473
Total Total Cost Cost £ £
£
(ongoing (ongoing (ongoing and and and set
set
up) up)
up)
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes
Tonnes Tonnes of
of
Batteries
Batteries
Collected
Collected
Average Average Cost Cost per
per
Tonne Tonne of of Batteries
Batteries
Collected Collected and
and
Recycled Recycled (£/tonne)
(£/tonne)
Estimated
Estimated
Cost Cost Cost ( (-45%) ( ( 45%)
for for National
National
Roll Roll-out Roll out
(£/tonne)
(£/tonne)
208,297 12.67 16,440 9,042
169,051 43.87 3,853 2,119
Retailer Retailer Take Take-back Take back 83,653 8.5 9,842 5,413
Community Community Community Drop-
Drop
off
off
55,210 5.74 9,618 5,290
Postal Postal
43,487 2.72 15,988 8,793
Postal scheme costs are almost as expensive as the community sector collections,
namely due to the significant costs associated with production and distribution of
robust envelopes and the pre-paid postage of returns.
The retailer take back and community drop-off costs are almost identical as the
schemes are very similar in nature. Relative to the other forms of collection, their
costs per tonne fall between municipal kerbside collections and community sector
kerbside / postal.
One area the UK can make further cost improvements to bring back portable battery
schemes is in the area of reverse-logistics, particularly from large retail outlets that
have substantial transport infrastructure in place. Not only will cost savings be made
but the environmental benefits associated with recycling waste batteries will increase
as collection rounds become more efficient, with shorter distances per pick up.
25.8 Effects on Technical Change / Innovation
Batteries can be divided into two families: primary and secondary. Primary batteries
are designed to be used only once, whereas secondary batteries are rechargeable.
Product innovation has led to significant battery advancements in recent years,
particularly in respect of lithium-ion batteries. These secondary batteries are
increasingly used in consumer electronics, replacing the more traditional chemistries
such as NiCd. Their principal advantage is an extremely high energy-to-weight ratio,
though they also experience little memory effect and a slow loss of charge when not
in use. As a result of these key attributes and environmental considerations, NiCd
batteries have more or less been consigned to history.
An even more recent development is the silver-zinc battery, which it has been claimed
will provide 40% more power than a lithium-ion battery of the same size. Those
developing this new rechargeable battery chemistry claim it will be 95% recyclable by