The proposed directive aims to prevent used batteries being sent to landfill or incinerators for disposal and would require the recovery of metals used in their manufacture. If the directive is adopted, it would create a pan-European framework for national battery collection and recycling schemes, and would introduce a system of producer responsibility.
The European market for batteries includes about 800,000 tonnes of automotive batteries, 190,000 tonnes of industrial batteries and 160,000 tonnes of consumer batteries each year.
The Commission is particularly keen for the directive to tackle hazardous materials in batteries, such as cadmium, lead and mercury, although it aims to reduce the environmental impact of a wide range of metals in batteries.
Announcing the proposed directive, commissioner for the environment Margot Wallstrom said: “By aiming to ensure that no spent batteries leak out of the collection and recycling system, this proposal will protect us and the environment from the risks that old batteries pose when they are incinerated or end up in landfills.”
Mrs Wallstrom said the directive would “encourage environmentally friendly behaviour from all actos involved in the battery life-cycle” while consumers would be required to bring back their spent batteries to “collection points”.
The Battery Directive proposals include:
- Ban on landfilling or incineration of 100% of automotive and industrial batteries.
- National collection systems set up by Member States to allow free take-back for consumers.
- Collection target for consumer batteries of 160g per inhabitant each year (roughly four to five portable batteries per person per year).
- Additional collection target of 80% for nickel-cadmium consumer batteries.
- Recycling target of 65% by weight for lead-acid batteries collected, including all the lead within those batteries.
- Recycling target of 75% for nickel-cadmium batteries collected, including all the cadmium within those batteries.
- Recycling target of 55% for all other batteries.
- Producers made responsible for costs related to collection, treatment and recycling.
- Collection costs for consumer batteries to be shared with national, regional or local authorities.
- Producers allowed to use a “visible fee” on new battery sales for maximum of four years after the directive's implementation.
Existing legislation on batteries only applies to batteries containing certain quantities of cadmium, lead and mercury, and only covers about 7% of consumer batteries. The Commission said regulations had so far “failed to adequately control the risks posed by batteries in the waste stream”.
The Commission believes the proposals within its new Battery Directive would cost about one to two euros (0.70 – 1.40) per household.
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