There are already around ten places collecting used batteries in Uzhgorod

Yesterday, on July 31, the issues of used batteries recycling were discussed in the press center "Zakarpattya" in Uzhgorod. The ecologist, president of RMEO "Ecosphere" Oksana Stankevich spoke about the fact that this problem is very urgent and needs to be addressed: "We have problems dealing with domestic waste. Only 60% of the population in our region is provided with the services of garbage collection and its disposal on landfills. The remaining 40% of people throw garbage anywhere.

It all pollutes our nature. Meanwhile, 0.6% of rubbish is the waste of the first class of danger. This includes batteries that interact with water and soil, they emit heavy metals – cadmium, nickel, manganese, zinc, lead"- said Oksana Stankevich.

One battery contaminates 20 square meters of soil, or 400 liters of water.

The initiator of the project Rostislav Tkachenko said that this is not a one-time event and it will operate continuously, "Places collecting batteries, containers will be served by us continually thanks to the efforts of volunteers and sponsors. We already have an agreement with the Lviv factory for metal processing, called "Argentum" that they will accept and recycle batteries brought by us for free"- said Rostislav Tkachenko.

He also noted that now there are already 7 points collecting old batteries: in the supermarket "Dastor" on Sobranetska Street (shop "ICB"), at the store "Nasha Syla" (Svobody Avenue, 49), in the studio "Kotska", in the cafe "Aquarium", in the second row of Krasnodontsev Market, as well as at the press center "Zakarpattya".

"We are going to install 5 more containers today, their number will gradually rise. The only problem is that we have very few volunteers. Therefore, we will be happy if this initiative will be supported by other shops specializing in sales of household appliances, which could set similar containers and then give the collected waste batteries to us. Minimum "load" that the plant will accept from us to process – 30 kilograms.

The project organizers expect that this will reduce future negative impact on nature, caused by hazardous household waste.