I AM very glad that there are now containers in Hillingdon libraries where people can place their old batteries for recycling. This is a great idea which will help more people to easily recycle them.

Putting batteries in rubbish sacks is harmful to the environment because batteries contain heavy metals etc. which can pollute water supplies.

Incinerating them gives off toxic air pollution.

Some EU countries have been recy-cling batteries is a big way for decades, but UK governments have been very slow to tackle this.

On a different subject, the Gazette reported on March 4 on the difficulty in finding anywhere to park at Hillingdon hospital [Hospital zone not the answer, Letters, March 4].

Many more car parking spaces need to be built there, because if patients can't find anywhere to park they would have to return home and miss their medical appointment, which causes chaos for the consultants.

It's no good officials using the lack of parking as a way to force people not to use their car to get to the hospital.

This would work if the hospital was near a Tube station but there is no station near Hillingdon Hospital, so many people must rely on their car. Future hospitals should whenever possible be sited near a station.

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