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Waste battery collection and recycling specialist, G & P Batteries, has taken delivery of five new drop-sided vans as part of its contingency for increased portable battery collections occurring as a result of the new waste battery regulations.

The vehicles are replacing existing stock in the G & P fleet and the company has selected the Iveco daily 35C 12 model for its flexibility. With a 3.5 tonne gross capacity, these drop-sided vans will be the workhorses for portable battery collections as they are ideal for undertaking multiple small collections with maximum cost effectiveness and increased carbon efficiency.

G & P Batteries offers a nationwide collection and recycling service for portable, industrial and automotive waste batteries. It has a fleet of 21 vehicles ranging from 3.5 tonne vans to 44 tonne articulated HGVs, which ensures access to any site across the UK, no matter how small or complicated.

Once collected, all batteries are taken to G & P’s headquarters in Darlaston, where an experienced team sorts the batteries into their various chemistries. They are then consolidated until the optimum batch size is accumulated before being sent to the most appropriate recycling facility.

Under the Battery Regulations, which came into force in May last year, the UK is tasked with collecting and recycling 10% of portable batteries this year, an ambitious target when historically only around 3% of such waste batteries have been collected. These collection targets become even more challenging in coming years as they rise steadily to 45% by 2016.

G & P was the first company in the UK to achieve Environment Agency approval as both an Authorised Battery Treatment Operator (ABTO) and an Authorised Battery Exporter (ABE). These authorisations are a fundamental part of the new legislation and are vital for companies to be able to issue evidence and deal with waste batteries. The legislation has also seen the creation of six Battery Compliance Schemes tasked with delivering the collection and recycling targets in the UK and G & P is working with the majority of those BCS’s.

G & P staff steer motorists away from a head-on collision

Quick thinking staff at Darlaston’s G & P Batteries saved the day when temporary traffic lights broke down outside their Willenhall Road site. Both sets of lights at road works opposite their entrance got stuck on red, meaning that there was a serious risk of a head-on collision on the bridge.

The problem was discovered by G & P’s Operations Director, Miles Freeman, who had a near miss when he went out yesterday (Friday lunchtime). He immediately summoned the support of his site operations team. Using two way radios, they manned each side of the road works for almost two hours to keep traffic flowing freely until the lights were fixed.

Our photo shows G & P’s Site Operations Senior Supervisor Nigel Cyster in action at the road works.