Rayovac has joined forces with one of the UK’s biggest battery recycling schemes as it boosts its green credentials and gears up for a major change in regulations governing used batteries. The aim is to achieve a more environmentally friendly method of dealing with used batteries and reduce the 600 million going into UK landfill each year. The Directive sets strict targets for the number of batteries to be recycled each year – 10% of those manufactured in 2010 rising to 45% in 2016. The UK currently recycles only 2.8% of used batteries. The Battery Back scheme, which Rayovac has joined, aims to make collection easy. Battery users can find details of their nearest collection point by visiting the website www.batteryback.organd keying in their postcode. Retailers of batteries – such as dispensers – will also be affected by the change. Those selling more than 32kg of batteries annually will be expected to provide take back facilities for customers. Although this is unlikely to affect most independent dispensers as it equates to 170 packs of hearing aid batteries every week, hearing professionals still have a big role to play by encouraging customers to recycle and letting them know about the new legislation.