6,600 spent batteries

Eight-year-old Kirstin Abela Caruana took her school's battery collection campaign very seriously, ending up with over 6,000 of them.

So you can imagine the expression on her teachers' face and her friend's reaction when she walked into the school one morning with 13 large bags each containing 500 batteries.

"One day she came to me and asked me if it was alright if a family friend helped her carry the batteries to school," Sue Mifsud Midolo, the junior school coordinator at St Catherine's High School in Pembroke, said.

"I told her it was no problem and asked her how many she had. When she said 6,600 I remained staring at her," Ms Mifsud Midolo said, adding that, actually, the young girl had already collected another 1,000 or so before the campaign.

"My friends think I'm crazy," the petite blonde girl giggles shyly as she explained how she roped in all her relatives and their work colleagues and friends in her battery-busting mission.

She admits she is crazy... about protecting the environment, that is.

"I would have never thought I'd manage to collect so many batteries. By collecting then I am helping the environment," she explained. In fact, if disposed of incorrectly and dumped into landfills, batteries release toxic acids that damage the environment.

And if the environment is damaged the girl's treasured dog, Julie, will be very disappointed.

Apart from having Julie's seal of approval, the girl's overly generous battery contribution also led her class to win an internal school competition. Having been declared as the class that collected the most batteries, they get to go on a special outing.

The battery collection campaign, organised by WasteServ with the support of Fimbank in secondary and primary schools, encourages students to collect the little energy capsules. When organising the campaign, the organisers themselves never imagined that a little girl would take it so seriously.

"We're pleased that the campaign is helping raise so much awareness about the environment within children and adults around them," Fimbank senior administration clerk Cindy Williams said. She noted that another student at the same school, Samaryah Sammut, had collected about 2,000 batteries but being sick she was unable to attend yesterday's event.

Through the campaign, children get to fill up specially-provided recycled bags with used batteries and, once filled, they write their details on the bags and throw them into "battery busting bins" distributed by DHL in all schools.

Next month, all the batteries collected will be transported by WasteServ to properly-equipped disposal sites overseas where they can be recycled and dangerous chemicals neutralised.

The bags will then serve as lottery tickets and four lucky children will win one of three Wii games consoles or a trip for two to Euro Disney in Paris.