In July 2006, the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers agreed on a compromise to revise the 1991 Directive on batteries and accumulators. The new directive provides for a minimal ban on cadmium and mercury as well as for collecting and recycling targets to be reached by 2016 at the latest.
Background
The EU market for batteries amounts to about 800,000 tonnes of automotive batteries, 190,000 tonnes of industrial batteries and 160,000 tonnes of consumer batteries every year. These batteries contain metals, which might pollute the environment at the end of their life-cycle. Mercury, lead and cadmium are seen as the most dangerous substances.
Three directives have regulated the management of spent batteries up to know (see ScadPlus summary). But their implementation has been impaired by their limited scope, leading to persistent disparities between national systems for collecting and recycling.
Following a public consultation phase (see contributions list) and an extended impact assessment, the Commission tabled a proposal for a new directive in 2003. The proposal aimed to establish minimum targets for the collection and recycling of waste batteries and to place the responsibility on producers to finance the costs associated with it.
Issues
Persisting differences between the Council and Parliament in first and second reading meant the proposal had to go through a special conciliation procedure. On 4 July 2006, the European Parliament gave its green light to the compromise that resulted from the talks. Here are the main points of the text:
- Collection targets: 25% by 2012 and 45 % by 2016. Easily accessible collection points must be made available to consumers by distributors such as supermarkets.
- Recycling targets: 65% by average weight for lead-acid batteries and 75% for nickel-cadmium and 50% for others. The suggestion to introduce a so-called closed loop for those hazardous substances was rejected by the Council which argued the 50% recycling target was already ambitious enough.
- Landfill: Parliament requests at imposing strict restrictions on the disposal of waste batteries in landfills were only partially met. The compromise states that landfilling is acceptable but only if no end market is available for the hazardous substances cadmium, mercury or lead.
- Polluter pays: The costs of consumer information campaigns will be borne by the producers who must register themselves in order to meet this requirement. Distributors will have to take back spent batteries at no cost to the consumer and regardless of when they were placed on the market. They must also inform consumers that they offer a take back service.
- Bans: batteries containing more than 0.0005% of mercury and 0.002% of cadmium are prohibited, except for emergency and alarm systems, medical equipment and cordless power tools.
- Capacity labelling: As of 2009, all batteries must show their real capacity or average life duration. The stated aim is to provide better information to consumers so that they can choose batteries with longer life duration to reduce the amount of waste generated.
Positions
Some manufacturers were strongly opposed to the compulsory capacity labelling for batteries used in cars. Eurobat, the association of industrial and automotive battery manufacturers, said it would have favoured labelling on the performance of batteries rather than their capacity. Eurobat believes that performance is a better indicator to consumers as it takes into account the capacity in combination with the discharge rate of batteries - the ability to perform tasks such as starting an engine. "Each type and model of automotive battery has different capacities at different discharge rates," Eurobat said. "The setting of an arbitrary discharge rate used for all batteries would therefore not enable the provision of objective and accurate information to consumers," it added.
Commenting on the vote in Parliament, Swedish MEP Carl Schlyter (Greens) welcomed "the agreement on a general phase-out of cadmium in batteries." But he regretted that cordless power tools received a derogation, pointing out that they account for over two-thirds cadmium battery-use. "Thankfully there will be an opportunity to scrap the derogation when it is reviewed in four years time," he said. On the other hand, he expressed satisfaction with the requirement concerning consumer information. "With the new capacity labelling, consumers will finally be able to compare different batteries on the basis of objective information. This will allow them to make an informed choice and, as such, hopefully put an end to the wild advertising claims of the industry about the performance of their batteries."
The European Portable Battery Association (EPBA), whose members include the likes of Duracell and Motorola, welcomed the conciliation agreement and especially "the more reasonable collection targets, the requirement for mandatory distributor involvement and the rejection of a lead ban for portable batteries." However, the association expressed concern at the new provisions on the financing and functioning of the collection systems: "we feel greatly exposed by the general requirement for producers to finance public information campaigns which could result in them being presented with costs over which they have no oversight or control and which they cannot finance by themselves anyway." EPBA therefore calls for "appropriate protection" against such exposure by member states at transposition stage. The organisation also criticises the exemption of small producers from the financing scheme, which it considers a violation of "the principle of producer responsibility" that underpins the Directive.
Timeline
- Member states have two years to transpose the directive once it is published in the Official Journal (in the course of 2006)
Further Reading
Political Groups
- Greens/EFA:Environmental legislation: Small steps towards strengthening EU rules on batteries(4 July 2006)
Business & Industry
- Eurobat:Eurobat position on provisions regarding mandatory capacity marking for automotive batteries in the draft battery Directive(27 April 2006)
- Eurobat:Battery Directive
Non-assigned links
- Parliament/Council:Conciliation: Directive on waste batteries and accumulators(20 June 2006) [FR] [FR] [DE]
- Parliament (Texts adopted):Legislative resolution on conciliation agreement on the directive on waste batteries and accumulators(27 June 2006) [FR] [FR] [DE]
- Eur-Lex:Proposal for a directive on batteries and accumulators and spent batteries and accumulatorsCOM(2003) 723 final [FR] [FR] [DE]
- Commission: Press release"Batteries: Commission requires collection and recycling of all batteries"[ FR FR DE
- Parliament (Press release):Batteries to be collected and recycled, nature protected(4 July 2006) [FR] [FR] [DE]
- DG Environment: Commission staff working paper:Extended Impact Assessment for draft batteries directive(24 Nov. 2003)
- DG Environment:Questions and Answers on the proposal for a new battery directive
- DG Environment: Revision of Directive 91/157/EEC on batteries:Contributions to the Battery Stakeholder Consultation(including Member and Acceding States, local and regional authorities, battery associations, NGOs and consumer organisations)
- Danish Minister for Environment and Energy:Letter to EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström in order to stress the importance of revising the Council Directive on Batteries and Accumulators(August 2001)
- Information on Cadmium
- Information on Batteries
- Press release on German Batteries Ordinance, 30 Sept 1998
- Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA):Green Guide for Buyers: Batteries
- Department of Trade and Industry (DTI):Information on batteries
- EuroBat (Association of European Storage Battery Manufacturers):Statement on the proposal for a batteries directive(Nov. 2003)
- EuroBat:Position on the open consultation for the revision of the Battery Directive(28 Apr. 2003)
- European Portable Battery Association (EPBA):Press release – Portable Battery Industry takes note of the Conciliation result on the battery directive(9 May 2006)
- EPBA:Press release - Portable battery industry still concerned on the battery directive(22 Dec. 2004)
- EPBA:Response to DG Environment Consultation document on the Battery Directive revision(28 April 2003)
- EPBA - EUROBAT - CollectNICAD:Battery Industry Coalition - Common Position Paper on Batteries(April 2003)
- European Battery Recycling Association (EBRA):EBRA welcomes the new Battery Directive(29 Sept. 2006)
- European Battery Recycling Association (EBRA):23,900 tonnes of used portable batteries and 4,045 tonnes of industrial Ni-Cd batteries recycled in 2004 by EBRA members(13 June 2005)
- European Battery Recycling Association (EBRA):Battery Directive: The position of the recyclers(14 April 2005)
- AMCHAM EUPosition Letter on the Revision of the Battery Directive(2 Nov. 2005)
- Euro Coop:Comments to the European Commission Consultation Document on the Battery Directive Revision(23 Sept. 2003)
- Battery Council International:Website
- British Battery Manufacturers Association:Recycling Batteries (REBAT) initiative
- GP Batteries Ltd:Batteries Directive, Proposals in the Batteries Directive, Proposals in the EU Consultation and Best Practice EU Consultation and Best Practice Opportunities Opportunities(June 2003)
- Independent Battery Manufacturers Association (IBMA):Website
- Portable Rechargeable Battery Association:Environmentally Sound Recycling of Nickel Cadmium Batteries(Paper presented to the OECD's Working Group on Waste Management Policy)
- Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium:Website
- Lead Development Association International:Website
- Website on Cadmium:Cadmium
- European Community of Consumer Cooperatives (EURO COOP):Comments to the European Commission Proposal on Batteries and Accumulators and spent Batteries and Accumulators(3 May 2004)
- European Environmental Bureau/Greenpeace:EEB and Greenpeace congratulate the European Parliament for backing ban on toxic batteries(20 Apr. 2004)
- European Environmental Bureau:Arguments on Effectiveness of a Voluntary Agreement on Collection and Recycling of Batteries versus a Cadmium phase out
- Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR):Batteries directive: CEMR welcomes extension of producer's responsibility but deplores low environmental ambition of EP(16 Dec. 2005) FR
- European Topic Centre on Waste and Material Flows:Overview of EU waste legislation
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry:ToxFAQ's Cadmium