Some years ago I wrote about the proposal to improve the recycling rate for the small domestic batteries we use in a wide variety of household gadgets. They are the unseen driving force behind our clocks, torches, shavers and smoke alarms.

September 2008 was the key date for the implementation of the EU (2006) Battery Directive which made it mandatory to collect a certain proportion of domestic batteries. It required 25 per cent to be recycled by 2012, and 45 per cent by 2015.

At that time the United Kingdom only recycled around three per cent, compared to Belgium, with 59 per cent, and Sweden (55 per cent), so it’s probably time to see how well we are shaping up to the challenge.

You may recall that collection was made relatively simple as Batteryback plc provides the containers and collects them when full, all at no cost to the shops, stores and council offices where they are sited. The contents then end up in Belgium, where the recycling takes place.

We certainly had some catching up to do, though there was an improvement to about ten per cent by 2010 and last year it was just over 17, so it’s going to be touch and go with the statutory obligation of 25 per cent required for September this year.

At this rate I suspect the duty to meet the 2015 target of 45 per cent may also be beyond us, so I checked in a couple of supermarkets to see why we were struggling so much.

I went searching for the battery recycling bin in one large store, and finally had to ask customer services. I had to move a pile of baskets out of the way, and a man collecting for a cancer charity, before I unearthed a receptacle the size of a slim dustbin. Inside there were only three batteries, though my two full carrier bags soon put that right.

There was no information on the wall or directions to find the bin, so it’s not surprising that most customers don’t even know that the bin is there for their use.

It’s clear that these retailers haven’t put much thought into making the collection successful, as marketing and attracting attention to products is their expertise. If they were serious, the bin would have been prominently positioned in the entrance area, with large notices, and an updated figure of the weight collected in the last six months compared with competitor stores.

I am not at all confident that we will meet the statutory requirement of 25 per cent recycled batteries later this year, particularly because in another store the bin was not even accessible to customers but was secreted at the back of the customer services desk.