The draft directive sets recycling targets too low, is not tough enough on heavy metals and fails to explain how an expensive monitoring scheme would work, according to the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.
The CEMR, a European grouping of major local authorities, said: “As it stands, the proposed directive on batteries is unacceptable.” The organisation said it had several “serious doubts” on the European Commission's proposals for the new directive, which was released as a draft for consultation in November 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Cadmium
The CEMR's main complaint was the failure of the draft to ban cadmium batteries where there was an alternative. “The requirements established in the proposal concerning batteries and accumulators containing cadmium will not prevent the release into the environment of substantial quantities of this extremely hazardous material,” it said.
And the body called for the phasing out of the use of cadmium in battery production when alternatives were available. Exemptions could include uses such as emergency lighting where substitutes cannot deliver the “same functionality as NiCd batteries”.
The collection target set by the Commission was too low at just 160g per person per year – less than 38% of batteries marketed in the EU in 2002. It urged the Parliament instead to set more ambitious targets based on percentages of batteries used, of at least 75% rather than volumes.
Equipment
The organisation also criticised the proposed directive as “regrettable” for excluding electrical equipment which incorporates batteries from its scope. “The establishment of requirements concerning the marking of appliances, the inclusion in the leaflets of information concerning the dismantling and disposal of batteries and accumulators would contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the directive.”
And the CEMR “strongly objected” to the Commission's proposal to monitor the portable batteries in the municipal waste stream, and questioned how it would be funded. “This is a very expensive process – estimated by some experts at 3-6.5 million Euros per Member State per year for the household waste stream alone – the costs of which are not accounted for in the “Extended Impact Assessment” that has been carried out,” it said.
“We therefore call on the Parliament to reject this provision and introduce calculation methods based instead on annual sale volumes combined with the lifetime of each item.”
The European Commission put its draft Battery Directive out to consultation with other directorates and Member States in November 2003. If approved it could become European law by the end of 2004.
Register for free to comment