Sainsbury’s say that they will become the first supermarket to offer customers drop-off points for the recycling of both batteries and energy-saving light bulbs. The new scheme will be a partnership between the supermarket chain and Recolight, a company that specializes in recycling light bulbs.
Recolight will pass on any batteries that are deposited for recycling to Valpak who already deal with Sainsbury’s battery recycling operation.
Nigel Harvey, CEO of Recolight says that he is excited about the new partnership and says that it fits with Recolights ambitions to go beyond simply recycling the legal minimum. He went on to say that by providing drop-off points at Sainsbury’s stores members of the public would be encouraged to recycle their old light bulbs.
The new scheme is set to be launched in five supermarkets in December. Another 200 stores should then have the recycling facilities by the end of next year.
Jack Cunningham, who is in charge of Sainsbury’s environmental affairs, said it was important to encourage people to recycle their old energy-efficient bulbs because of the small amounts of mercury that they contain. He also said that because the collection of the light bulbs was going to take place at the same time that the batteries were being collected, there would be no increase in the carbon footprint left due to transportation.
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