Eco-solutions: Ukraine sends 42 tons of batteries to Poland for recycling

Batteries should not be disposed of in the regular waste bin. After all, it holds all kinds of hazardous chemical elements from Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table.

What is the problem?

An everyday finger battery can become a dangerous form of waste once it has used up all its energy. A single modern finger battery can contaminate up to 16 square meters of land with toxic materials.

What is the solution?

To avoid this, batteries must be processed in a special way. Unfortunately, no single plant or enterprise in Ukraine would be engaged in such processing.

^{Photo: "Batteries, Surrender!"}

In March 2020, for the first time in the country's history, volunteers of the "Batteries, Surrender!" initiative sent a batch of used batteries for recycling to Romania. Previously, collected batteries in Ukraine were stored in warehouses or went to pseudo-recyclers, who threw them into landfills. This was reported by Rubryka, referring to the "Batteries, Surrender!" organization.

How does it work?

Despite the war, more and more Ukrainians began to dispose of batteries properly. As a result – "Batteries, Surrender!" for the first time during a full-scale invasion, batteries were sent to Europe for recycling.

^{Photo: "Batteries, Surrender!"}

A total of 42 tons of batteries were shipped. They were collected in "Silpo" supermarkets. The batteries will be recycled at the Recupyl plant in Poland. The Silpo team placed a GPS tracker in the shipment, which will allow tracking the way of the batteries to the factory.

The processing of this batch is financed by Silpo + 7 brands of batteries that are sold on the shelves – from sales revenues.

"It would, of course, be even 'easier' to recycle batteries in Ukraine, but let us remind you: it is impractical and unprofitable for now. Most of the months of the year, such an enterprise would be idle because batteries are still not enough for industrial scale, as are the funds for their processing", reports "Batteries, Surrender!".

^{Photo: "Batteries, Surrender!"}

It should be noted that every year about 3,250 tons of batteries (162.5 million pieces) are imported into Ukraine, and so far, less than 5% are processed.

In total, 1,212 battery collection points from "Batteries, Surrender!" operate in Ukraine, in particular in "Silpo," "Epicenter," Novus, Jysk, Comfy, Leroy Merlin stores, as well as at KLO and WOG gas stations.