Compliance scheme route for used batteries

The proposals were unveiled today by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs working with the Department for Business in a second consultation document on the subject.

The departments have already ruled out having just one compliance scheme to collect batteries, preferring several so that a competitive nature to the system was reached (see letsrecycle.com story).

Now, it appears that the departments are moving closer to the proposed changes in the packaging waste rules which will rule out companies going it alone in 12 months time and require obligated producers to join a compliance scheme.  

Compliance year

The consultation document explains that a producer of batteries “will be responsible for financing the collection, treatment and recycling of a quantity of waste batteries during a compliance period (Regulation 5). Compliance periods will be calendar years and we intend that the first compliance period will run between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010.”

And, it adds that the quantity to be collected is “related to the quantity of new batteries the producer places on the UK market”.

In rules not dissimilar to those applied to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations producers intending to place portable batteries on the UK market “should join a compliance scheme by 15 October of the year preceding the relevant compliance period.

This will enable the compliance scheme to register producers with the relevant environment agency by 31 October. (Producers will only need to register with one of the environment agencies.) A producer who forms the intention of entering the market after the deadline will have 28 days to join a scheme.”

A producer wishing to change BCSs will only be able to do so at the end of the compliance year, except where it belongs to a scheme whose approval is withdrawn. The rules that will apply if scheme approval is withdrawn are explained later in this document.

Interim targets

While the UK is expected to reach a 25% collection rate by 2012, the consultation document proposes the introduction of interim targets of 10% in 2010 and 18% in 2011.

As a result, it states that, trading of surplus recycling evidence between compliance schemes will not be allowed until the first full target year, 2012, when “schemes exceeding the minimum collection targets set in 2012 and onwards will be able to trade the extra evidence with other BCSs.”

And, the consultation warns that, if schemes fail “badly” to meet the interim targets, they “could have their approval removed if, after scrutiny from the environment agencies, the schemes plans to meet the interim targets proved insufficient.”

Under the system proposed by the departments, while all producers will have to join a compliance scheme, only those placing over three tonnes of batteries a year on the UK market will have to financially contribute to collection, recycling and treatment costs.

Based on a market sized at between 23-30,000 tonnes a year, the consultation equates this to a market share of less than 0.01%, meaning that all costs will be met by larger producers numbering “less than 100 and probably less than 50”.  

Shops

Most shops and other outlets selling batteries will have to take waste batteries back – small businesses are likely to be exempt. The shop collections may feed into collection networks which the Battery Compliance Schemes are likely to have to set up in order to meet their targets.

The consultation says that the schemes are free to choose the collection methods that they consider to be the most effective. The paper notes that the requirements on retailers is the only form of collection “specifically identified in the Directive, but other forms of collection can also be used by the schemes to meet their obligations”.

Some schemes will make arrangements with distributors. Producers who are also distributors will be well placed to help their schemes collect batteries to meet their scheme's collection targets.

We are keen to hear from you on our approach 

 
Ian Pearson, Business and Economics Minister

CA sites

Other options for collecting waste batteries such as kerbside collection, collection at Civic Amenity sites, community drop offs (in libraries, schools etc) and postal returns are suggested in the consultation. And, it suggests that “local authorities are likely to be key partners for schemes because of their collection infrastructure, expertise in waste collection and potential access to batteries in household waste.”

There are no formal obligations in the Directive on local authorities, some authorities already collect batteries and others are interested in adding the service. Defra and BERR say that while the government “will not specify which methods schemes should use, the agencies will assess whether schemes' plans are sufficient to meet its members' obligations”.

Commenting on the consultation, Business and Economics minister, Ian Pearson, said: “We are keen to hear from you on our approach to collect and recycle the many thousand of tonnes of waste batteries that are generated each year. This consultation sets out the proposed systems for introducing 'producer responsibility' for diverting many portable, industrial and automotive batteries from disposal in landfill sites, when commercial collection and recycling activity is not doing the job.”

Automotive and industrial 

The producer responsibility systems suggested for automotive and industrial batteries both emphasise what the department has labelled a “common sense” approach, with the established collection and recycling systems in place for both sectors already yielding recycling rates above 95%.

As such, producers' need to take full financial responsibility to ensure collection still takes place is only likely to kick in if and when existing collection arrangements become unviable due to market pressures, in a similar way to the End-of-Life Vehicle system.  

This consultation will run from December 22, 2008 through to February 13, 2009 and seeks views from consumers, businesses and industry on the proposed Regulations and implementation.