Boosting the collection of household batteries for recycling

When it comes to recycling, plastic bottles, paper and cans are a no-brainer, but do batteries come to mind? For many of us, batteries are more commonly stashed at the back of cupboards and drawers rather than on our to-do list for recycling. A whopping 178 million used batteries are estimated to be stashed across UK homes!

Household batteries contain heavy metals including lead, mercury, cadmium, zinc, manganese and lithium which can be reused when collected in the right way. However, currently only 45% of batteries are recycled. Follow the campaign with #BringBackHeavyMetal.

Bring Back Heavy Metal is an online campaign created by Hubbub and Ecosurety to boost awareness of the issue of battery waste and nudge people to bring back their household batteries to their nearest collection point. People can search for their nearest drop off point on the Bring Back Heavy Metal website.

The difference made

During the campaign month (October 2018) there were 2,562 visits to the Bring Back Heavy Metal website. 77% of people who headed to the website searched for their nearest battery recycling point. View the 2018 impact report and press release.

The 2018 campaign build on the 2017 campaign which achieved widespread engagement online and in the media. View the 2017 impact report.

How can you get involved?



The main thing you can do is recycle your batteries! Find a collection point near you using this website, and then let your friends and family know too.

If you want to spread the word wider, you can download the communications guide below and run your own Bring Back Heavy Metal campaign. Get in touch if you have any questions!