The Soulsbys Blog

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Mundi Group. We launched a battery recycling scheme on an unsuspecting Guernsey Public, and the response has been fantastic. First of all the media picked up on the story quickly and both Radio Guernsey and Channel TV had coverage before the evening was done. This drew a good crowd of people to the mondomundi stores looking to find out more about the scheme. Peoples response has been incredibly supportive with 20 KG of batteries collected on the first day. Full details at www.bagabattery.com, and the full text of the press release is below:- 

 Bagabattery Press Release

Islanders now have the opportunity to recycle their used household batteries free of charge, thanks to a new recycling initiative.  

Ecomundi, a new eco division of the Mundi Group, has devised the scheme, entitled “Bag-A-Battery”, in an attempt to divert batteries from landfill. The Mundi Group is best known for its chain of Mondomundi Fair Trade shops and retail website.  

There is currently no other outlet for this type of battery recycling, which means that the batteries are ultimately sent to landfill. Household batteries will be accepted for recycling through this scheme and once collected they will be shipped by Lucas Freight to a recycling outlet in the UK which will then strip and recycle the battery parts.  

‘The average household in the UK uses 21 batteries every year – and this increases to much more for families with small children,’ explained Heidi Soulsby, Director of the Mundi Group. ‘Batteries not only add to landfill, with over 20,000 tonnes being thrown out each year in the UK, but also contain toxic substances, such as mercury, which can impact on the environment, posing a risk to wildlife in particular.’  

All Islanders need to do is pick up a battery recycling bag from either of the Mondomundi outlets – located in St Martin and at Guernsey Airport - fill it up with used batteries and bring it back either to Mondomundi or Lucas Freight. 

As a further example of Ecomundi’s commitment to reduce our dependence on batteries, it has become the exclusive distributor of Freeplay Energy products in the Channel Islands. Freeplay products include wind up and solar torches, radios and portable chargers, which convert natural energy, such as that from the sun and manual power, into electricity to power their items. ‘The natural energy replaces the need for batteries in the first place,’ said Mrs Soulsby, ‘this option is not only environmentally friendly, but also cost-effective in the long run, as there is no expenditure needed to replace the energy used.’ The full Freeplay range is now on sale in Mondomundi stores and on the new Ecomundi website at www.ecomundi.co.uk. 

Anyone interested in the battery recycling scheme can visit www.bagabattery.com or visit the Mondomundi stores.

Posted on August 30th, 2007 under Uncategorized •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback