HC Deb 08 January 2003 vol 397 c242WS
Mr. Bellingham

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2002,Official Report, column 107W, if she will make a statement on the proposed disposal or reuse of this material. [87762]

Mr. Wilson

The aim of industrial nickel cadmium battery collection schemes including Bat-Re-Back in the UK and the Collect Nicad schemes in other EU states is to create a closed loop process which will see the collected batteries sent to a recycling facility where the cadmium is extracted for use in the manufacture of new batteries and the nickel is recycled and sold to the steel industry. The batteries collected from Bat-Re-Back are sent to the SNAM recycling facility in France. Although consumer nickel cadmium batteries are not widely collected in the UK they can be subject to the same recycling process.