Open-pit
mining
Digging for lithium and cobalt strips land, drains water tables and scars whole valleys.
- Lithium. Cobalt. Nickel. Metals dug out of the ground on three continents.
- Rolled tight, sealed in steel. Years of mining and refining, packed into a few grams.
- Used for hours. Binned in seconds. And that is where the real cost begins.
Pocket power casts
a long shadow
Every battery we toss leaves a mark long after it stops working. From the mine to the landfill, this is the price we rarely see on the packet.
The small print
of small batteries
Sample figures for this layout. Replace them with sourced data before publishing.
15bn
single-use cells sold around the world each year
9in 10
used cells that never reach a collection point
+40%
more household battery waste than a decade ago
100years
a sealed cell can lie in a landfill before it breaks down
Did you know?
One small coin cell can hold enough mercury to taint 400,000 litres of water, about the size of a 25‑metre pool.
Sample fact for this layout. Check the figure against a current source before going live.
The Earth
pays the bill
Open-pit
Leaking
metals
Cracked casings let heavy metals seep into ground water, rivers and drinking supplies.
Lost
habitat
New mines clear forest and grassland, and the wildlife living there has nowhere to go.
Toxic
waste
Binned cells pile up in landfills, where heat and rain slowly break them open.
- Seeps into ground water
- Builds up in fish and food
- Lingers in soil for decades
One battery. One bin.
One lake.
Follow a single cell from the kitchen bin to where it actually lands.
Give every battery
an afterlife
Small habits, real difference. Three things that genuinely help, starting today.
Bring it
back
Drop used cells at a collection box. Recyclers recover most of the metals for new batteries.
Tape the ends of lithium and 9-volt cells before you store them, and keep a jar by the door so the trip happens.
Tell one
person
Most people still bin batteries without a second thought. One quick word changes that.
Set up a collection jar at work or school and share the finder below with the group chat.
Choose
rechargeable
A single rechargeable cell can stand in for hundreds of single-use ones over its life.
Pick low self-discharge cells for remotes and clocks, and a charger that stops when the cell is full.
Find your nearest
drop-off point
Tell us your postcode and what you have in the drawer. We send the three closest collection points that accept it.
- Household AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt
- Coin and button cells
- Phone, laptop and tool packs