The UKs battery recycling sector has met the first mandatory EU-wide waste battery collection target which applies for 2012, after achieving a collection rate of 27.70% for the year.
However, concerns remain that the volume of portable lead acid batteries collected for recycling is still proportionately too high.
Under the Batteries Directive, EU Member States are required to collect 25% of the average number of portable batteries placed onto the market over the three preceding years, rising to 45% in 2015.
And, provisional data for the fourth quarter of 2012 published by the Environment Agency last week shows that in total 10,915 tonnes of waste batteries were collected, which is above the obligation of 9,563 tonnes.
Data published by the Environment Agency in September 2012 showed that the UK had achieved a collection rate of around 32% for the first two quarters of the year, with around 6,049 tonnes of waste portable batteries collected by compliance schemes for recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, despite collections slowing down at the end of the year, with 2,120 tonnes of waste portable batteries collected between October and December, compared to the 3,225 tonnes collected between January and March, the target was still comfortably met.
The figures also demonstrate that the collection rate has risen significantly when compared to the previous two years, with the UK achieving an 18.03% collection rate in 2011 and 9.45% in 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Lead acid
The data does however show that the number of portable lead acid batteries being collected is still proportionately high compared to the amount being placed onto the market. In total throughout 2012 a total of 3,026 tonnes of lead acid batteries were produced, while a total of 9,101 tonnes were collected for recycling, a collection rate of around 300%.
‘We welcome the collection rate achieved but recognise the concerns raised by the industry and reported in the trade media about the high volume of portable lead acid batteries being used to meet the targets.’
BIS spokeswoman
Battery recyclers claim that a difference in opinion with battery producers over which lead acid batteries are classified as being portable or industrial is behind the anomaly.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), said that while the government welcomed the news that the target had been met, it is still keen to act on the high number of lead acid batteries being reported for recycling.
She said: “We welcome the collection rate achieved but recognise the concerns raised by industry and reported in the trade media about the high volume of portable lead acid batteries being used to meet the targets. We are working closely with the Environment Agency and industry to address these concerns”.
Under the terms of the European Unions Batteries Directive, batteries are categorised into three groups: automotive, industrial and portable.
Portable batteries are the only category to which a recycling target has been attached, and in the UK are classified as any battery which is sealed, can be hand-carried without difficulty and is neither for automotive nor industrial purposes. Industrial batteries are defined as such if they have been designed exclusively for professional use.
Classification
But, battery recyclers claim that as they are often unaware of the original use of some lead acid batteries, it is impossible to determine if they fall into the industrial or portable classification, and are therefore reported as portable, inflating the number of lead acid batteries that are being counted toward recycling targets.
Commenting on the data, Mike Green, managing director of West Midlands battery recycling firm G&P Batteries, said: The headline figure that the UK has met the 25% target is good news, but some of the underlying issues that we have seen in the past still persist.
A 300% collection rate for lead acid batteries is a little bit silly, but I am still hopeful that we will get that resolved in the course of this year, and it does need to be resolved.
The government has pledged to act to address the problem, and has said that it may look to alter the classification of lead acid batteries before the summer (see letsrecycle.com story).
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