Primary school pupils in Powys could win a share of £500 worth of vouchers for their school if they recycle as many batteries as they can.

Powys County Council is running a free battery recycling competition and is urging primary schools to sign up to be in with a chance of winning a share of £500 worth of Amazon vouchers. The first placed school collecting the most batteries will win a £300 voucher, with the schools in second and third place claiming a £150 and a £50 voucher respectively.

The competition is being sponsored by the European Recycling Platform, the council’s compliance scheme for waste electrical and electronic equipment and batteries.

Primary schools who sign up will be provided with a free battery box and will compete from the beginning of December until the end of the school year (19 July 2024) to collect as many domestic batteries as possible. This includes the standard AA and AAA nickel cadmium batteries, button cell batteries, power packs from tools and mobile phone and laptop batteries. 

Cllr Jackie Charlton, Cabinet Member for a Greener Powys, said: “This competition not only gives schools the chance to win some vouchers, but it also encourages their pupils and their families to recycle their batteries. I would urge every school in the county to sign up and take part.

“Batteries are made from recyclable metals including lead, cadmium, zinc, lithium and mercury. Each battery collected by a school will be taken apart and the recovered materials used to make new batteries and other items, rather than being lost forever. 

“Teaching our future generations about the importance of recycling is a really important job. Participating schools will be instilling good recycling behaviours messages to the pupils and helping their communities cut carbon emissions, boost recycling rates, and inspiring everyone to recycle more.”

Teachers, governors and parents are being encouraged to sign up their local primary school and start collecting those batteries. To get involved, please contact the council by emailing [email protected]