Wairoa District Council’s waste minimisation team is charging ahead with a new and free small-used battery drop-off service.

A used battery drop-off bin has been set up in the Wairoa District Council front office with a certified disposal service to safely collect, handle, transfer and dispose of these potentially hazardous items.

The objective is to keep small household batteries out of landfills. When old batteries and products embedded with lithium-ion batteries are added to landfills, they can leach toxic, corrosive chemicals such as mercury, cadmium, lead and nickel into the soil and water table, which endangers the environment and human health. These chemicals are extremely difficult and expensive to clean up.

Every day, Wairoa residents use thousands of lithium-ion batteries to power everything from small electronic and household devices to hearing aids, tools, remote control devices and toys, with no known, safe collection points for these used household batteries in the district.

The collection bin service is a way to collect, store and dispose of the batteries safely.

Wairoa District Council Chief Executive Kitea Tipuna said the collection bin is just a start to the Council’s commitment to minimising waste. “We will use this collection point to monitor demand and usage, and there is scope for additional and/or scheduled collection points.

“Through this type of project, we are creating an opportunity for all residents to actively support action to maintain the safety and wellbeing of our community and introduce new approaches to hazardous waste.

“Waste minimisation and emission reduction is a huge nationally led focus, and it is important that locally we are doing what we can to positively shift behaviour and attitudes towards waste disposal to protect our environment today and into the future.”

“The Council manages the disposal of waste, but minimising waste and appropriately disposing of waste is everyone’s responsibility. Through this initiative, we exemplify Ngā Whai Tikanga, and we hope people will use this service.”

Photo Caption: Help protect the environment by dropping off your used, small household batteries in the bin in the front office at the Wairoa District Council.

11 September 2023

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