Pupils at Lowercroft Primary School in Bury have played an important part in persuading people to recycle their used batteries.

They helped to create a new animation to boost awareness of the campaign after research showed that there were an estimated 1.5 million used batteries in Greater Manchester households.

The study was commissioned by REPIC, the UK’s largest not-for-profit Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) producer recycling scheme. The survey revealed that over half of people in Manchester don’t recycle their old batteries. UK-wide, 42% of respondents admitted they do not recycle their old batteries: 38% of these claimed they didn’t know where to recycle them, 24% said they didn’t know you could recycle them and 21% didn’t know they should recycle them.

REPIC’s animation, which was created with help from 30 Year Six children at Lowercroft Primary School in Bury, is available to view at www.responsible-recycling.co.uk. It aims to educate children and their families on the importance - and best practice - of battery recycling.

REPIC’s collaborations with the Year Six Class at Lowercroft Primary School saw the pupils draw upon their imagination and storytelling skills to create an animated video that would appeal to a family audience.
The children illustrated the recycling process, drawing futuristic robot designs to show what goes on inside a battery recycling plant. Their hand-drawn designs were then expertly brought to life in a two-minute video created by North West animation company, Kilogramme. A number of pupils were also invited to narrate the animation.

REPIC hopes the video will be shared widely across social media to help generate awareness throughout the UK and educate people about the importance of battery recycling.

Mark Burrows-Smith, CEO of REPIC, said: “The figures from the national survey suggest up to 54% of people in the Manchester are still putting their old batteries in general rubbish bins, which will be sent straight to landfill sites.

“We’d like to thank the pupils at Lowercroft Primary School for helping us to create the video, which we hope will encourage more people to change old habits and start thinking more about battery recycling.”

Successfully financing the collection, treatment and recycling of around half of the UK’s used electrical items, REPIC is a major force behind recycling WEEE – one of the fastest growing waste streams in the UK. To find your nearest battery recycling centre,visit http://www.responsible-recycling.co.uk/contact-us/find-your-local-recycling-centre/