Every year, over one million tonnes of batteries are marketed in
the EU. When spent, they often get dumped or incinerated. So, to
protect the environment, the European Commission is pushing a new
law to make recycling compulsory.
It this week adopted a Proposal for a new Battery Directive,
which will require the collection and recycling of all batteries
placed on the EU market – and prevent spent batteries ending up in
incinerators or landfills.
The proposed Directive aims to create an EU-wide framework for
national battery collection and recycling schemes.
Under the rules, consumers as well as businesses will have to
contribute to environmental protection by bringing back their spent
batteries to collection points. The Commission estimates that the
additional annual costs of the proposed collection and recycling
rates per household will be between one and two Euros.
The plans also mean that thousands of tonnes of metals, including
valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt and silver, can be recovered
if batteries do not go to landfills or incinerators.
