The National School Battery Collection Campaign

During 2010, FIMBank sponsored and supported the second edition of the National School Battery Collection Campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at raising awareness amongst school children about the need for the proper disposal of used batteries. The campaign, which was launched in January and ran until the end of March, led to the collection of a record nine tonnes of used batteries. The campaign was managed by WasteServ Malta Ltd. The first such campaign, which had also been sponsored and supported by FIMBank, was held between March and May 2009, and had led to the collection of 5.2 tonnes of used batteries by school children.

The campaign centred on the 'Battery Buster Competition', which was open to school children in state, church and private schools. As part of this campaign, students were encouraged to collect used batteries, place them in paper bags and deposit them in designated bins at their respective school. These batteries would subsequently be transported by WasteServ to properly equipped disposal sites overseas to be recycled and the dangerous chemicals neutralized.

The winners of the Battery Buster Competition received their prizes during an awards ceremony presided over by the Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs the Hon. George Pullicino, WastServ Malta Ltd Chairman Perit Ben Farrugia and FIMBank p.l.c. President Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger. Apart from rewarding the individual school children who collected the most batteries during the campaign, FIMBank also presented €2,000 worth of gym and sports equipment to St. Patrick's Salesian School, the school which collected the largest amount of used batteries by weight. The sixty students at this school managed to collect a total of 167.55 kgs of used batteries.