The vote for “clear targets for (the) recycling of batteries and accumulators throughout the EU” came this week in the committee's final meeting before the European Parliament elections in June.
Marking the first reading in the Parliament of a revision to the Batteries and Accumulators Directive, the producer responsibility legislation will now be inherited by the next intake of MEPs after June.
While the European Commission originally proposed collection targets for portable batteries based on a weight figure of 160 grams per inhabitant per year (see letsrecycle.com story), MEPs decided that it should be based on a percentage (50%) of the national annual sales of batteries.
A statement from the committee explained: “The committee says the collection targets should be amended to percentage targets in order to better reflect the level of consumption, which varies throughout the EU.”
The decision would in effect tighten the Commission's demands, as the committee noted that the 160g target effectively corresponded to a collection rate of about 40% of battery sales.
Limits
The Parliament's environment committee is also looking to limit the use of cadmium, lead and mercury in batteries. With some exemptions, it has called on governments to prohibit sales of all batteries or accumulators containing more than 5 parts per million of mercury by weight, 40ppm of lead or 20ppm of cadmium.
MEPs in the committee said the list of exemptions should be periodically reviewed as new technology emerges, when using these metals becomes avoidable through new alternatives.
The committee also included provisions for member states to go beyond EU legislation, requirements on final storage of un-recyclable batteries and a date by which producers must commence financial responsibility in a similar approach to the WEEE Directive.
Pressure group confederation the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), which includes groups like Friends of the Earth, has welcomed the Parliament's “important step” towards phasing out cadmium, lead and mercury from batteries.
John Hontelez, EEB secretary general, said: “A ban on toxic chemicals in batteries is necessary to reach the goals and targets of existing EU Policy.”
However, the EEB said MEPs are allowing too many exemptions from the ban, such as in batteries for power tools, which “means that some of the biggest users of these batteries are unnecessarily given a blanket exemption”.
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