33 million AA batteries purchased in run up to Christmas

Batteries for Barretstown - The Power of Positivity

With 30% of all batteries purchased in the run up to Christmas, equating to almost 33 million AA batteries, ERP Ireland wants to remind Irish consumers of the importance of having a Green Christmas and to dispose of their batteries in a sustainable way. Christmas decorations and children’s toys are just some of the reasons for the surge in the purchase of batteries during the festive period. A large amount of these batteries however will end up in landfill because they have been thrown out in domestic waste and so the valuable materials inside are lost forever.

By bringing used batteries to local supermarkets, schools, or recycling centres, many of the component parts of the batteries can be used again. This call to action comes on the back of the recent publication of the government’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy which outlined the creation of a Circular Economy Unit within government, tasked with developing an all-of-government circular economy strategy.

Children’s charity Barretstown has partnered with the European Recycling Platform (ERP) Ireland since 2017 on the Batteries for Barretstown campaign. The campaign was created to educate Ireland on the importance of battery recycling, increase the number of batteries recycled and raise much-needed funds for Barretstown. Since the start of the campaign, the equivalent of over 62 million AA batteries have been recycled – which means we could circle the island of Ireland with the number of batteries collected.

This year you can watch the ‘Batteries for Barretstown,’ Green Christmas video which is a mix of live action and illustration and centres on the story of Ashleigh Kiernan, a former Barretstown camper. The narrative, created by children’s book author Benji Bennett, tells the magical story of Ashleigh, a sick little girl whose energy was as low as a dead battery, but through the power of positivity she came back from Barretstown fully recharged.

Encouraging people to recycle their batteries Martin Tobin, CEO, ERP said: “Our partnership with Barretstown is incredibly important to everyone here at ERP Ireland, we are thrilled to be helping ‘Power Positivity’ through our ‘Batteries for Barretstown’ initiative. The message of this campaign is a hugely positive one, which we hope will drive people to dispose of their waste batteries in an environmentally conscious way, whilst raising funds for a worthy children’s charity. We want to encourage people to have a green Christmas this year and to bring old batteries to collection points in local authority recycling centres, schools and other retailers.”

Commenting on the ERP and Barretstown Christmas story, Tim O’ Dea, Director of Development, Barretstown said: “This year, the ERP Batteries for Barretstown Christmas campaign tells the story of Ashleigh Kiernan, one of our former Barretstown campers. Ashleigh’s journey to recovery has not been easy but we are thrilled to have her take part in this project along with Benji Bennett, a very important Barretstown ambassador. We are excited about the positive energy being generated by this Christmas campaign, we hope it will help remind people to become more environmentally aware and to change their battery recycling habits.”

Illustration ©️ 2019, Evgenia Pautova