Source: MMB, D. Blackham

E-Bike battery collection and recycling service to trial in the UK later this year

In line with the anticipation for significant growth for electric bike sales in the UK, the Bicycle Association (BA) announced plans to set up UK wide collection and recycling for bike batteries.

The service plans to run in partnership with the European Recycling Platform (ERP), who the BA has appointed to deliver this programme. In other European markets there is already a single collection programme running, with manufacturers participating alongside retailers who act as collection points. The perceived benefits of the scheme are simplicity at retail level, reducing the costs and complexity for bike companies, and a clear and convenient way for customers to return batteries.

Stephen Holt, BA retail trade manager 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. We are looking forward to working closely with ERP, who are experts in the construction and implementation of such initiatives.”

The BA and ERP plan to begin a trial, which will contribute to a proposed national rollout later this year.

This follows an update on the scheme to members at the BA annual conference in Birmingham where 150 delegates representing more than 90 UK bike businesses attended.

John Redmayne, managing director of ERP UK, said: “ERP UK are delighted to have been chosen by the Bicycle Association as their partner in developing a battery collection service for the sector. 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.”

Read the article here.