E.U. WANTS NEW BATTERY RECYCLING DIRECTIVE

The Environment Directorate of the European Comission has announced a new round of consultation on plans to draft a comprehensive directive on battery waste collection and recycling.,according to the U.K.- based environmental news agency ENDS Daily.It is to be among the first legislative proposals to pass through an éxtended impact assessment'under the comission's better regulation initiative.
The move represents a return to the drawing board for the European Comission,and effectively erases a draft directive presented by the environment directorate almost two years ago.Progress on the dossier stalled due to differences within the comission over the treatment of nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd)rechargeable batteries.
The new consultation paper is brief and asks for stakeholders' input on three key issues by the end of April.These are:collection targets,recycling targets and cadmium. Three or four options for each being tabled.
Three target ranges are proposed for battery collection rates:30-40%,80-70% and 70-80%. Car batteries would have a separate target of anywhere between 70% and 100%.The three proposed target ranges for battery recycling rates vary between 45-55% and 65-75%.Proposed car battery recycling targets are slighty higher still.
In addition,the directorate is seeking views on the introduction of producer responsability for spent batterie,with free take-back along the lines of the new WEEE os electroscrap directive.
Finally,the paper sets out several possibilities for regulating Ni-Cd batteries,including separate collection and recycling targets ranging between 60-90% and 50-80% respectively,and a ban on cadmium where commercially viable substitutes are available. There might also be a separate cadmium recovery target if Ni-Cd batteries are not banned.