A conciliation agreement on this new Battery Directive was
reached today which includes the possibility of exempting small
producers from the obligations to finance the waste management of
batteries, a requirement that batteries need to be removable from
appliances so they can be recycled as well as a requirement that
the battery capacity needs to be indicated on the label for
consumer information purposes.
Approximately 800,000 tonnes of automotive batteries, 190,000
tonnes of industrial batteries and 160,000 tonnes of portable
(consumer) batteries are placed on the EU market annually. The
metals used in batteries include mercury, lead and cadmium, nickel,
copper, zinc, manganese and lithium. When incinerated, these metals
contribute to air emissions and pollute incineration residues. And
when batteries end up in landfills, the metals contribute to the
leachate from landfills. Moreover, on a resource management level,
batteries are considered a source of secondary raw materials.
Thousands of tonnes of metals, including valuable metals such as
nickel, cobalt and silver, will be recovered when batteries are
recycled.
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas,
welcomed today's progress.
"The EU gives high priority to making sure that batteries and
accumulators no longer cause health and environmental problems due
to the heavy metals they contain," he said. "Now it is time to
start implementing the provisions of the new Battery Directive. The
faster we start to collect and recycle batteries, the better for
the environment”
The new Directive will set minimum collection targets of 25% and
45% of the average annual sales over the past three years, to be
achieved respectively four and eight years after the transposition
of the Directive.
The new Directive will also require collected batteries to be
recycled. In the conciliation agreement, the European Parliament
and the Council agreed on a recycling target of 50% for all
batteries not containing cadmium or lead, which the European
Parliament initially wanted to increase to 55%.
For cadmium and lead containing batteries there are also
specific recycling targets, established at 75% and 65%
respectively.
Finally, the new Directive will make producers financially
responsible for the waste management of batteries. The European
Parliament and the Council agreed upon a de minimis rule, giving
Member States the possibility to exempt small producers from their
financial responsibilities.
Once adopted the new Battery Directive will replace the existing
Battery Directive, passed in 1991.
Today's agreement needs to be formally adopted by the Parliament
and Council, after which the new Directive can be published in the
Official Journal. Member States will have to transpose it into
national law within two years of its adoption. Until then, the
existing Battery Directive continues to apply.
FREE EVENT: Pinsent Masons will be running a
series of free briefing seminars on other environmental laws, known
as WEEE and RoHS, this month in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and
London. Speakers will explain the legal requirements, problematic
areas and offering practical tips.
