New legislation,
designed to ensure that all waste industrial and automotive
batteries are recycled in the future, will come into effect on 1
January 2010.
Producers of industrial and automotive batteries will be required
to arrange the collection, treatment and recycling of such
batteries, free of charge, if requested by business end-users and
final holders.
Key elements of the new regulations include:
Requiring any persons placing batteries on the market to register
as a producer of batteries, and report on waste batteries
collected and sent for recycling;
Requirements for the treatment and recycling of waste batteries
The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 complement
the existing Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market)
regulations 2008, which set out the requirements for introducing
new batteries onto the market from 26 September last year.
These regulations also introduce a ban on the landfill disposal
or incineration of waste industrial and automotive batteries.
Ian Lucas, Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform, said:
“These regulations are designed to complement the excellent
recycling rates traditionally achieved for industrial and
automotive batteries.
“In simple terms, business users of industrial batteries, and
final holders of automotive batteries, such as garages,
End-of-Life Vehicle authorised treatment facilities, and Civic
Amenity site operators, will no longer be faced with the costs
that may be incurred through recycling scrap batteries. These
costs will now be met by the producers.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
The regulations implement the waste provisions of the European
Union’s Directive on Batteries and Accumulators and Waste
Batteries and Accumulators (2006/66/EC).
The EU's Directive on Batteries and Accumulators and
Waste Batteries and Accumulators (2006/66/EC) aims to reduce the
environmental impact of portable, automotive and industrial
batteries by increasing recycling and ‘greening’ the supply chain
that produces and distributes them. It applies to all types of
batteries regardless of shape, volume, weight, material
composition or use, except for military applications and space
applications.
Producers are businesses, which first place industrial or
automotive batteries on the UK market, either loose or
incorporated into appliances or vehicles.
Examples of industrial batteries include those used for emergency
or back-up power supply in hospitals, airports or offices, in
trains and aircraft, offshore oil rigs and lighthouses, and in
electric vehicles
An automotive battery is a battery used for starting, lighting or
ignition in vehicles and motorcycles.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will
take responsibility for registering industrial and automotive
producers and enforcing the relevant waste industrial and
automotive battery provisions.
The regulations also introduce targets for the collection and
recycling of portable (mainly household) batteries of 25% by 2012,
and at least 45% by 2016. Producers who place more than 1 tonne of
portable batteries on the market in a year must join a Battery
Compliance Scheme (BCS) which will arrange for the collection and
recycling of waste portable batteries on their behalf. Producers
who place less than 1 tonne of portable batteries on the market
must register with the Environment Agency but do not have to fund
the collection or recycling of batteries. From 1 February 2010,
all portable battery distributors who supply more than 32kg of
batteries a year to end users, will have to provide a take back
facility free of charge so the batteries can be recycled. All
types of portable battery must be accepted back not just those
they sell. However they do not have to pay for their transport and
treatment; BCS’s are obliged to collect them free of charge.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is
responsible for the implementation of the regulations in relation
to portable batteries. Further information can be found at www.businesslink.gov.uk/batteries.”
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is
building a dynamic and competitive UK economy by: creating the
conditions for business success; promoting innovation, enterprise
and science; and giving everyone the skills and opportunities to
succeed. To achieve this it will foster world-class universities
and promote an open global economy. BIS - Investing in our future.
For further information, contact Gareth Greene at the BIS Press
Office on: 020 7215 5974 or email: gareth.greene@bis.gsi.gov.uk
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk