A total of 6,26,376 lead-acid batteries were recycled last year out of 7,26,000 produced batteries across the country with recycle rate of 74 percent.

This was revealed by a recent study carried out across the country by the Waste Concern and jointly supported by the Environment and Forest Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The study also showed that with the growth of per capita GDP, use of vehicle batteries is increasing rapidly all over the country.

A H Md Maqsood Sinha and Iftekhar Enayetullah, co-founders of Waste Concern (WC), told the4 news agency yesterday that recycling of battery waste could be increased from 70 percent to 90 percent which might save nearly eight million dollars per year.

They also said a significant government intervention and financial support is needed in place of achieving economically viable, socially desirable and environmentally sound management of lead-acid batteries waste recycling in Bangladesh.

The study recommended for acquiring an overall policy package to ensure high lead recovery rate during recycling. The policy package suggested conducting awareness campaign to make all workers and parties aware of the health hazards and environmental impact associated with lead reuse and recycling.