ALMOST THREE tonnes of waste household batteries were collected for recycling in the past year through a trial scheme at major retailers in Perth and Kinross.

The scheme has prevented a host of harmful chemicals from escaping into the environment and causing pollution.

Now the local authority is investigating the setting-up of collection provision for household batteries at offices and recycling centres throughout the area.

It is estimated that the average UK household uses 21 batteries a year, with up to 30,000 tonnes of waste household batteries generated annually.

The waste batteries have the potential to cause water and soil pollution as the heavy metals they contain, such as mercury and cadmium, can leak into the ground when the battery casing corrodes.

However, less than a 10th of those batteries are recycled, compared to 90% of car batteries.

European Union countries are required to make collection arrangements for spent household batteries, so that the companies producing them take responsibility for their products once they reach the end of their life.

It is similar to the requirements placed on companies who make electrical and electronic equipment such as fridges.

The regulations will become UK law later this year, with a national Battery Compliance Scheme (BCS) established to ensure the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries.

Companies putting more than a tonne of batteries on sale in the UK each year will be required to contribute to the costs of the BCS, while retailers or distributors who sell more than 32kg of portable batteries a year will also have to take back spent batteries they sell from February 1, next year.

In Perth and Kinross, the council has taken part since March 2007 in a trial collection scheme for household waste batteries run by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) for the Scottish Government.

Eight major retailers provided collection points for customers to drop off their spent batteries and 2.9 tonnes were collected in stores throughout Perth and Kinross during 2008/09.

The success of the scheme locally has led the council to continue funding its operation beyond the end of the trial period, until such times as a BCS is set up.

Councillors will be asked to agree in principle to the council joining the national BCS and setting up collection points for household batteries at its recycling centres and council offices at an environment committee meeting on Wednesday.