Mr Julien Lacoste, West Africa Regional Director, Bosch-Ghana, on Tuesday urged the public to dispose-off used car batteries appropriately to keep the environment and individual lives safe from its content.

He said automotive lead-acid car batteries contain various heavy metals and toxic chemicals which was harmful to the environment and the health of individuals if exposed to humans.

He said currently, the management of used batteries in the field does not focus on socially responsible actions of key role players with no application of the recommended standards that ultimately posing health risks, soil contamination and water pollution.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr Lacoste said as part of Bosch Ghana’s efforts to sanitize the environments from such pollutions, it had initiated an automotive battery project to collect used car batteries for recycling.

“The long-term sustainability of Ghana’s environmental landscape requires legal compliance in the handling of used automotive Batteries, Bosch in Ghana fully supports the recycling project that focuses on collection and recycling of used automotive lead batteries,” he said.

He said according to the United Nation statistics, the estimated market volume was around 800,000 units of batteries traded every year in Ghana adding that as a battery Production Company it had taken the initiative to salvage these used car batteries.

“We are not collecting only Bosch Batteries but all brands of batteries; all have a role to play in keeping the environment safe,” he said.

Mr Kingsley Otu-Koram, Country Sales Manager at Bosch Ghana, said, most used car batteries ended up at the Agbogbloshi e-waste dumping site where they were burnt inappropriately to extract its content, which ended up polluting the air quality and poses danger to both animals and human.

He said in view of this, the programme targets batteries sellers, batteries collectors and end-users with an incentive package to bolster change in behaviours on handling of automotive batteries.

Additionally he said, the programme aims to support the creation of formal jobs primarily in the logistic and training fields.

He said 14 collections points have already been deployed with an objective to double the collection points by 2021.

He said since the inception of the project on November 2020, there are about 15 collection points presently in Accra, which included points around Spintex, Palace Mall, Melcom shops, Achimota, Industrial Area, Abosseyokai, Main Nsawam Road, Dansoman Roundabout and all Bosch vending points.

He said they had plans in place to extend the projects to other major cities across the nation such as Kumasi, Takoradi and beyond.

Mr Otu-Koram said as an incentive, five percent discount on the price of a battery type was given to anyone who returns a used battery at its collection points; “the battery should not be broken and must have its content intact”.

He said the incentive was given either in cash or as a discount on a new battery purchased.