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MEDIA - LATEST NEWS
31st March 2008 FIRE UPDATE 31.03.08 Despite the serious fire at our Darlaston premises on 25th March the company has been able to continue to offer a normal service to all customers. West Midlands Fire Service finally allowed full site access on Friday 28th March, although due to the condition of parts of the site the management team will still be unable to assess the full extent of the damage for some time yet. The business operated with a skeleton staff last week, but was able to maintain normal operations. Temporary premises have been established to accommodate all employees and all staff are expected to return to work on Tuesday 1st April. Contractors have now been appointed to undertake site clearance and re-building. Although this is likely to take several months, contingency plans are in place for G & P to be operating at full capacity in the intervening period, with waste batteries being stored at the company’s other sites in Kent, Derbyshire and Scotland. Throughout this incident we have been working closely with the Fire Service and the Environment Agency to minimise the impact of the fire. Both West Midlands Fire Service and the Environment Agency have stated that there have been no run-off releases into the nearby Walsall Canal.
27th March 2008 FIRE UPDATE 27.03.08 Following a serious fire at our Darlaston premises on 25th March we are pleased to report that normal business has resumed. Collections are continuing, with waste batteries being stored at our sites in Kent, Derbyshire and Scotland. Our Disaster Recovery Plan has been implemented successfully and we are confident that all aspects of the business will be fully operational within the next few days. We are hoping to obtain full access to the Darlaston site by the end of this week, subject to permission from West Midlands Fire Service. At this stage it is impossible to assess the full extent of the damage to the premises. Throughout this incident we have been working closely with the Fire Service and The Environment Agency to minimise the impact of the fire.
26th March 2008 G & P Fire G & P batteries suffered a fire during the night of 25th March.
8th January 2008 BEWARE ADVICE ON LOW–ENERGY LIGHT BULB DISPOSALSome advice published in early January 2008 suggests that broken low-energy light bulbs should be disposed of in a municipal recycling bin for waste batteries. This suggestion is ill-advised, potentially dangerous and illegal. G & P Batteries specifically requests that only batteries should be placed in a waste battery container.
Our advice for any customers that have any low-energy light bulbs is that bulbs should be placed in containers designed to collect other Fluorescent tubes or if not available, then they should be stored in a separate container and sent directly to a company specialising in the recycling of waste mercury. Please remember that we reserve the right to impose additional charges if non-conforming material is found in battery containers we collect for recycling.
15th November 2007 New portable waste battery collection scheme launched to UK businesses The UK business community is being encouraged to engage in the latest initiative to promote waste battery recycling. The BattBox has been designed by the UK’s leading waste battery collector, G & P Batteries, to encourage people to recycle portable waste batteries produced in the workplace. Supported by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) the BattBox was unveiled at a launch event in Birmingham on Thursday 15th November 2007. WRAP will be monitoring the initiative in the East and West Midlands, although G & P Batteries will be offering the service nationwide via a dedicated website, www.BattBox.co.uk.
The BattBox is a pre-paid collection service for portable waste batteries that arise in the workplace, including those used in mobile/cordless phones, laptop computers and wireless keyboards. For a one-off fee of £25 (plus VAT), companies will receive a BattBox designed to sit neatly on a desk or shelf in a location that is easily accessible to all staff. Once full, the company simply calls the collection service and the BattBox will be removed by G & P. Both G & P Batteries and WRAP are hopeful that this business-orientated scheme will help increase the quantities of portable waste batteries being recycled in the UK, which is currently well behind other European countries. Whilst the UK has a good track record in recycling more than 90% of lead acid batteries, used primarily in automotive and industrial applications, only 3% of portable waste batteries are currently being recycled. To meet EU targets, this needs to increase to 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016. “One of the major issues facing the UK is a lack of awareness of the need to recycle portable waste batteries,” said Michael Green, Managing Director of G & P Batteries. “We have recently conducted some research into attitudes towards battery recycling and it is apparent that there is a widespread lack of awareness surrounding the many issues concerning batteries. This new initiative provides a cost-effective waste battery recycling service available to all UK businesses, which hopefully will not only help increase the volume of batteries recycled, but also help make people more aware that recycling waste batteries can be achieved quite easily.”
WRAP has made great progress with a number of trial kerbside, retailer take-back and postal recycling initiatives which encourage people to ‘Do the positive thing; recycle your batteries’ producing positive results. However, Chris Davey, Batteries Programme Manager, believes that a large proportion of waste batteries are still slipping through the recycling net. “We believe that many of these ‘missing’ batteries are being used by the business community and so we welcome G & P’s initiative in launching a collection service dedicated purely to business. It is another positive step to help the UK meet its targets,” he said. G & P Batteries’ Commercial Director Greg Clementson, explained how the BattBox service works: “Companies pay a one-off fee of £25 plus VAT up front to have their BattBox delivered. When it is full, they simply call the number on the box and we will arrange for it to be collected with no further charges. Behind the scenes we are providing sophisticated logistics, sorting and recycling service which guarantees compliance with all current legislation. At the end of its life, even the BattBox itself will be recycled, often finding its way back into battery industry as casing for automotive batteries.”
Ends Notes to Editors: About the battery recycling trials
About WRAP
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