Before Auckland became a "super city", the Auckland Regional Council ran regular collections of hazardous waste by the Hazmobile. This has now been discontinued, and as far as I can tell from the Super City website, there is now nowhere to legally dispose of household batteries and used long-life light bulbs. These are not supposed to be put into the ordinary household collection or recycled, and will not be accepted by the transfer stations. I now have a large collection of used batteries (AA, AAA, 9 volt) and bulbs (which turned out to be very short lived and expensive!), and would like to dispose of them safely and legally. Can you help? Karen Muller-Cleary, Auckland.
The Ministry for the Environment website advises that single-use dry cell batteries (i.e. non-rechargeable) of types zinc carbon, zinc chloride and alkaline manganese, and of the sizes you describe, are not classed as hazardous waste and are acceptable to dispose of in household waste. For more information on battery disposal go to tinyurl.com/lf37djc. The ministry website also has useful information on the disposal of light bulbs. In essence, it says:
"Incandescent lamps (both the old-style tungsten filament and more efficient tungsten halogen ones) and other halogen lamps can be disposed of with household rubbish. Wrap any broken glass in newspaper to prevent injury during handling of the rubbish bags.
"Fluorescent lamps, including the well-known compact fluorescent lamps (the ones commonly called energy-saving), are different because they contain small amounts of mercury. While the mercury poses no immediate threat to human health or the environment when the lamps are used, mercury is a toxic substance so these lamps need to be managed properly when they become waste.
You'll need to check with your local authority as disposal options can vary for different regions."
