Safety and Disposal

Disposal of Batteries and Accumulators

Our obligation as a retailer to take them back
As a retailer, we are legally obliged to take back batteries and accumulators purchased from us free of charge. Please take advantage of this offer and help keep our environment clean.

Your obligation as a consumer to remove and return
The Battery Act obliges all citizens to dispose of used batteries and accumulators of all kinds exclusively through trade or specially set up collection points, e.g. at recycling centers. Disposal via household waste is strictly prohibited. For this purpose, you must remove old batteries and old accumulators that are not enclosed by the old device, as well as lamps that can be removed from the old device without being destroyed, before handing them in at a collection point.

Return points
You can hand in batteries and accumulators at the public collection points in your municipality and anywhere where batteries and accumulators are sold. You also have the option of handing them in at our headquarters in Holtgast.

Disposal is free of charge
Disposal is free of charge for you, even at sales outlets where you did not purchase the batteries and accumulators.

Batteries/accumulators containing pollutants are marked with the symbol shown, which indicates the prohibition of disposal via household waste. The following chemical symbols denote the heavy metals contained:
- Cd (= battery contains cadmium),
- Hg (= battery contains mercury) or
- Pb (= battery contains lead)

Further information on this topic can be found here.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment

The Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) contains a variety of requirements for dealing with electrical and electronic equipment. The most important ones are summarized here.

1. Separate collection of old equipment
Electrical and electronic equipment that has become waste is referred to as old equipment. Owners of old equipment must hand it over to collection separate from unsorted municipal waste. Old equipment does not belong in household waste, but in special collection and take-back systems.

2. Batteries and accumulators
Old batteries and old accumulators that are not enclosed by the old device, as well as lamps that can be removed from the old device without being destroyed, must be removed from the old device before handing them in at a collection point and disposed of separately.

3. Take-back obligation
According to § 17 Para. 1 and 2 ElektroG, we are obliged to take back old electrical equipment under the following conditions:
when delivering a new electrical or electronic device to an end user, we take back a functionally identical old device of the same type from the end user free of charge at the place of delivery or in the immediate vicinity (so-called 1:1 take-back).

a) We are obliged to provide free collection, which is limited to electrical and electronic equipment from categories 1 (heat exchangers), category 2 (screens, monitors and devices with screens with a surface area of more than 100 cm2) and category 4 (devices where at least one external dimension is more than 50 centimeters).

b) For electrical and electronic equipment of categories 3 (lamps), 5 (small devices) and 6 (small IT and telecommunications devices) as well as for old devices that are no larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension, we guarantee the 1:1 return through suitable return options within a reasonable distance. For old devices that are no larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension, there are also suitable return options within a reasonable distance; the take-back is not linked to the purchase of an electrical or electronic device for these devices and is limited to three old devices per device type (so-called 0:1 take-back). An overview of the individual categories can be found here:
https://www.stiftung-ear.de/de/themen/elektrog/herstellerbevollmaechtigte/geraetezuordnung

4. Return options
You can hand in your old electrical equipment via the take-back system take-e-back. Via the link you will get more information about the stationary collection points in your area. The acceptance of old equipment may be refused if there is a danger to the health and safety of people due to contamination.

For the products mentioned under 3.a), you have the option of having electrical and electronic old equipment collected by our service provider. You will find a link on your invoice via which you can arrange the collection.

5. Further return options
You can also hand in your old electrical equipment free of charge at one of the municipal collection points. An online directory of collection and take-back points in your area can be found here: ear directory of collection and take-back points

6. Data protection notice
Old equipment often contains sensitive, personal data. This applies in particular to devices of information and telecommunication technology such as computers and smartphones. Please note in your own interest that each end user is responsible for deleting the data on the old equipment to be disposed of.

7. Meaning of the symbol "crossed-out trash can"
The symbol of a crossed-out trash can, which is regularly shown on electrical and electronic equipment, indicates that the respective device must be collected separately from unsorted municipal waste at the end of its life.

8. Further information
Further information can also be found at https://e-schrott-entsorgen.org