EUROPEAN BATTERY RECYCLING

The 11 member companies of EBRA - the association embracing all of Europe's recyclers of used portable, industrial, primary and secondary batteries and accumulators - were responsible for recycling some 10.000 tonnes of used portable batteries and accumulators last year. EBRA regards the figure as a far cry from the goal set out in the pending European directive on battery recycling. Around 160.000
tonnes of new batteries and accumulators are consumed annually in Europe, and so EBRA members recycled some 6% of the batteries that entered the market last year. As a point of comparison, the draft European Commission directive relating to collection and recycling of batteries and accumulators sets the target collection rate at 75% for EU mamber states. A breakdown by category reveals that, in 2001, EBRA members recycled over 1700 tonnes of portable NiCd batteries and 3300 tonnes of industrial Ni-Cd batteries. Another 15 tonnes of button cells, mainly containing mercury, were likewise recycled. In the primary battery category, last year saw a total of 7.500 tonnes recycled compared to 5.400 tonnes in 2000. Remarkably, there is no EC-level legislation enforcing collection and recycling of this latter category of batteries. The findings obtained for primary batteries are explained by the high level of environmental awareness in certain member states such as Belgium and The Netherlands, and to a lesser extent Germany and France. This prompted the decision to enforce primary battery recycling before the pending European directive makes this mandatory. It is also due to local authorities and battery distributors collecting spent batteries on a voluntary basis because of the obvious environmental advantages, is thwarting the dispersal of substances in the environment and preserving resources by reusing lead, mercury, cadmium, zinc, nickel, manganese and other such materials. Alain Vassart, EBRA's newlyelected President, states: "When public authorities enforce regulations that set clear goals, as is the case in Belgium and The Netherlands, and thanks to keen support from European consumers willing to bring their used batteries and accumulators to dedicated collection units, it is easy to achieve healthy collection rates. Processing facilities have the capabilities to handle Europe's entire used battery production. So the new battery recycling directive needs to be passed soon to ensure that used battery and accumulator recycling becomes common place throughout Europe."