The EU Battery Directive 2006/66/EC became UK statute law on 26th September 2008 through the 2008 UK Battery Regulations Act. The regulations are aimed at encouraging the collection, appropriate disposal and recycling of old or used batteries at designated facilities, thereby avoiding the environmentally unsafe disposal of batteries within domestic waste which causes contamination to the environment through disposal in landfill sites.

Roche is committed to minimizing any adverse effect on the environment from battery waste. Appropriate disposal and recycling of old and used batteries at designated facilities is better for the environment as it avoids hazardous substances going into landfill sites and conserves natural resources by recycling useful metals.

In order to remind customers to use designated facilities for the disposal and recycling of old and used batteries, new batteries will be marked with the crossed out wheelie bin symbol. Also, through battery producer Take Back schemes, battery manufacturers, distributors of batteries and local councils will be providing facilities for the correct disposal, recycling and reprocessing of used batteries.

Roche, along with other distributors and retailers of leading electrical devices, will support the awareness initiatives taken by battery manufacturers, distributors of batteries, and local councils, by directing its customers to use the available facilities designed for the correct disposal of old and used batteries.

Targets for collection, appropriate disposal and recycling are set at 10% of batteries placed on the UK market by the end of 2010, 25% of batteries placed on the UK market by the end of 2012, increasing to 45% of batteries placed on the UK market by the end of 2016.

To meet these targets, Roche encourages its customers to avoid placing used batteries among domestic waste that will subsequently be transported to landfill sites, and encourages customers to dispose of used batteries through designated facilities

Implementation of the essential requirements of this directive will be complete by July 2009 by which time the UK Government aims to have established the following:

• An infrastructure to support compliance with UK Battery Regulations i.e. Compliance schemes, Take Back programmes, Return facilities.
• A sufficient number of fully compliant battery treatment and recycling centres in the UK
• A culture of battery recycling in the UK where users readily return used batteries to designated facilities for environmentally friendly treatment.

In the near future, further guidance on how to correctly dispose of, or recycle batteries will be available from either:

• The distributor who originally supplied the battery
• The responsible battery manufacturer
• The appliance manufacturer

Roche is now advising all of its consumer customers to return portable batteries to facilities offering battery disposal services by:

• Participating in local authority battery collection schemes where they are available. If your council does not provide one at the moment, contact them and find out if they are planning to do so in the near future.
• Sending batteries back to the battery manufacturer for recycling or reprocessing where such a scheme is available.

Roche would like to thank its customers for supporting these initiatives