The Start Of The Year... And A New Project...GP Ultra; 001

Battery recycling is the recycling activity that aims to reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Batteries contain a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals and disposing of them by the same process as regular rubbish / trash has raised concerns over soil contamination and water pollution. When I see the large collection buckets or "bins" for collecting dead batteries for recycling inside stores, usually overflowing with the things. I'm still amazed at the sheer variety of brands that are available, especially those for probably the most common of batteries, the humble "AA" or "Double A"-size.

I wondered just how many different brands or varieties out there, and thought it might be fun to see if I could find and post a new design or type every day (or where time allows)  for the whole of 2019... ergo; a target of 365 different AA-size batteries.

I've decided to allow myself to count variants of the same brand as "different", so unless I hit 300 and find more new ones, expect to see more than one Duracell version and the like.

So, on with the show...

To start off this inaugural post, I thought why not pick out a "Christmassy" battery... What on earth is a Chrismassy" battery, I hear you ask; well, I am thinking of one that attempts were made to try and sell to me personally, in the run-up to Christmas;

GP Ultra 1

So, what makes this GP Ultra-brand Christmassy then? Well, it's because it's the brand that is sold by "The Entertainer" chain of toy shops, and the one they push when you buy anything needing batteries in one of their stores. It's also worth mentioning that the famous consumer-testing organisation Which? featured the GP Ultra brand in a recent "power-off" competition between battery brands, and although you have to sign up and pay to see the report, a member of their staff was overheard telling a customer that they had come in very favourably against the competition (I forget the exact words they used, but it was along those lines).

GP Ultra 2

The one thing I just bet you are dying to know is just what the "GP" in the name actually stands for... it's not "Golden Power" as I assumed; no, it's actually "Golden Peak" don't you know. If you have nothing better to do and can't get pr0n sites at your place of work, you may want to head over to their Golden Peak's world home site at https://www.gpbatteries.com/int_en/corporate-information and take a look at their Corporate Information page. 

In the 50 years (yes, surprised me too) they have been in business,  GP Batteries has rapidly expanded to become one of the world's major suppliers of primary and rechargeable batteries and being one of the largest consumer battery manufacturers in China. It supplies an extensive range of battery products to original equipment manufacturers, leading battery companies as well as consumer retail markets under its own GP brand name.

GP Batteries' production facilities are located in China, Vietnam and Malaysia, and has trading offices spanning across Asia, Europe and North America.  As of January 2019, the Group currently employs about 6,000 people worldwide and occupies a total floor area of approximately 260,000 square metres.

Prices are varied, but The Entertainer itself is selling packs of four, plus two free for £2.00 at present, meaning one battery works out to about 33p

So, that's my first post done. As it's the 3rd of January already, that means I'm two batteries behind... not a great start, but I do have at least 20 at home to write up, and I never envisioned having the time or ability to write one up every day, so you'll just have to be patient and deal with posts containing more than one battery. ;-) 

Did you get any of these for Christmas, or have used them yourself? Why not comment below on how good you found them or not... long life / short life etc.