Mobile Batteries Recycled
Newcastle Herald
Thursday September 24, 1998
THE State Government launched a mobile phone battery take-back scheme yesterday that should keep 400,000 batteries out of landfills each year.
A trial of the takeback scheme will start in November, with mobile phone owners able to take their spent batteries to mobile phone outlets in Newcastle, Sydney or Wollongong.
The used batteries will be taken to a recycling centre for reprocessing into cadmium, which will be used to make more batteries.
Environment Minister Ms Pam Allan said the scheme had been funded by the State Government and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association.
`This trial is an excellent example of an industry sector taking responsibility for the post-consumer fate of its product and accepting the challenge to deliver the product responsibility the community expects,' Ms Allan said.
The list of outlets that take batteries will be finalised next week.
© 1998 Newcastle Herald