Button batteries

[SEMPA1234567]

So I was shopping in my local Lidl the other day. At the checkout packing my bags, 5 year old standing next to me bends down and then says “mummy, I’ve found a coin!”. I look at what’s in his hand and was shocked to see it was a button battery.

Looking down the packing area I noticed it’s lined with overflowing battery recycling bins and this one has obviously just fallen out.

Luckily at the age of 5 my son didn’t put it straight in his mouth but a younger kid may have.

Never really thought about it before but all these battery bins are:

1. in the checkout area where parents are normally a little preoccupied packing
2. dont have lids (let alone child proof lids) so kids can put their hand straight inside
3. all at the height of a child so would stand out to them
4. in this instance were even more dangerous as batteries were literally falling out of them

I sent a message to Lidl and the response was basically thanks for letting us know, we’ll get the bins emptied.

Am I wrong to think given how dangerous these batteries can be they should at least have a child proof lid or be placed at a height that children can’t easily reach inside.

Im tempted to take the matter further as this seems like an accident waiting to happen! Interested to hear others thoughts.

Fuck, that's scary. Nasty accident waiting to happen.

I agree and yes I think.i would take it further too. It sounds like nobody has really noticed the danger because nothing terrible has happened yet. Could you follow up with the store (maybe include head office) and let them know just how dangerous those button batterie are, and encourage them to add lids at the very least. There are definitely other ways of making battery donation points as the ones I've seen are not easily dipped into.

I’d email or tweet head office, not the individual store. But I think it’s a good spot and could potentially save lives. Ideally they would be like sharps bins wouldn’t they, and lock.

Yeah I've always thought it was mental that those bins don't have lids. A big, see through tub of small, shiny, potentially lethal things in easy reach of small children, what could possibly go wrong?

The one in my local Aldi recently got replaced with a plain black bin that has a little slot in the top to put the batteries in and no way to reach inside so at least common sense seems to be prevailing there!

I think you should definitely contact head office, then when the athletic reply is received x/twitter (other SM) post it all over the place.

council H&S.... anywhere else you can think of.

its a death waiting to happen!

I'd email back and ask they move the bins. As a mother of 2 toddlers, those batteries terrify me and I'd be furious to be so careful basically banishing button batteries at home, only to have them potentially accessible at a local shop.

Bloody phone!!

I typed pathetic, it decided althletic was a better word 🤦🏻‍♀️

Thanks everyone for your replies. I was shocked with their initial nonchalant reply to my email (sent to Lidl customer service). I’m glad to see others feel the same and I wasn’t overreacting.

It seems like such a simple solution to have a safe bin like you say they’ve now got at Aldi, which could prevent such a massive disaster like a child losing their life.

Im going to have a think about who I can contact next.