UK cycling industry chiefs to launch national battery recycling scheme

8 Mar 2023

The Bicycle Association (BA) industry body will set up a new UK-wise electric bike battery collection and recycling service, in order to help both riders and retailers easily deal with of drained batteries.

The UK cycling trade body has appointed European Recycling Platform UK (ERP UK) to run the scheme, which it is launching in anticipation of an expected significant growth in e-bike sales in the near-future.

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The scheme will organise the collection and processing of used e-bike batteries, including ensure that they can be dealt with safely and recycled. That is key to helping minimise the environmental impact of e-bikes.

The scheme will be based on those in place in other European markets, which usually involved both e-bike producers and retailers. The retail shops act as collection points for drained batteries from the public, simplifying the collection process and helping to reduce costs.

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The BA and ERP will launch a trial scheme shortly, with a full national rollout planed later this year.

Stephen Holt, the BA’s retail trade boss, said: “With millions of electric bike sales ahead of us, this is an exciting initiative that will make it easy for retailers to safely store faulty and expired batteries in one fireproof rated drum – with one phone call when full to get it swapped out. With the support of electric bike producers, we hope to provide a national network of hundreds of collection points convenient for customers.”

ERP already runs a number of e-bike battery recycling schemes and similar initiatives in other European countries, as part of a focus on developing a ‘circular economy’, in which products no longer needed are reused or recycled.

John Redmayne, ERP UK’s boss, added: “With growing numbers of E-bikes in use, the need for the sector to safely and responsibly deal with end of life batteries has been highlighted.  We are looking forward to working with the Association and using our experience in engineering circular economy solutions to develop a sector-specific service.”

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