People can now listen to the radio without having to worry about the batteries running out.

The Roberts solarDAB has a solar panel that recharges the batteries for up to 27 hours of listening time, the company claims.

Icons show signal strength and indicate when the batteries need recharging.

It also has 10 station presets and a line-in socket so people can plug in and play music from an iPod or other MP3 device.

Under new EU legislation, which is due to become UK law in September 2008, the country will be expected to recycle up to 25 per cent of all disposable batteries.

At present, the UK consumes approximately 30,000 tonnes of portable batteries (800 million) each year, most of which end up in household waste.

Leslie Burrage, chief executive at Roberts, said: “The solarDAB is an important step forward for us in our desire to produce greener products.

“Solar power is an important development but we’re also looking at other ways to reduce the environmental impact of our products”.

The solarDAB is expected to cost around £80.