Source: https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Battery_Directive.html
Timestamp: 2020-08-06 21:52:45
Document Index: 138474078

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art.4', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 8', 'Art. 10', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 14', 'Art. 12', 'Art. 21']

European Union Council Directive on Batteries and Accumulators and Waste Batteries 2006/66/EC of 6 September 2006 . Batteries can contain toxic metals and, when discarded, are considered to be hazardous waste.
The European Union "Battery Directive" was meant to promote a less-polluted environment by minimizing harmful substances in batteries. The first of these "battery directives" was known as the "Council Directive of 18 March 1991 on Batteries and Accumulators Containing Certain Dangerous Substances (91/157/EEC) ."[1]
The most recent version of this directive, the 2006 Battery Directive [2], officially repealing the 1991 Battery Directive, was approved July 4, 2006 and became official on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities on September 26, 2006. Like other European compliance directives of this kind it serves the dual purpose of promoting better quality of life through a cleaner environment, while improving the European economy by standardizing technical manufacturing and marketing practices among European member states.
Similar European Directives protecting the environment and health, parallel to the Battery Directive, are the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) directives. The Battery Directive explicitly legislates the banning of certain chemicals and metals in batteries; maximum quantities of chemicals and metals in batteries; waste management of these batteries, including recycling, collections, "take-back" programs, and disposal; financial responsibility for programs; rules covering most phases of this legislation, including labeling, marking, documentation, reviews, and other administrative and procedural matters.
3.1 Details of the Battery Directive
3.1.1 Prohibitions
3.1.2 Battery disposal
3.1.3 Recycling and collection of batteries
3.1.4 Exclusions and exemptions
3.1.5 Inclusions
3.1.6 Economic Instruments
3.1.7 Implementation reports
3.1.8 Labeling
3.1.9 Penalties
3.1.10 Battery Collection Targets
The United States EPA has a battery-specific environmental safety law in the 1996 Battery Act [3] and U.S. companies and individual states have laws similar to the European battery directive. The US Battery Act limits or prohibits mercury in some consumer batteries and calls for cost-effective collection, recycling or disposal of batteries.
The first of the western European directives dealing with waste management was the "Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on Waste."[4] It didn't mention batteries or chemicals but specified the regulation of "particular categories of waste," which was later referenced to by both Battery Directives as a legislative or legal basis. The first version of the European Council Directive on Batteries and Accumulators 91/157/EEC [5] was approved on March 18, 1991. It covered many battery types, including industrial, automotive, dry-cell, lead-acid, alkaline, nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal-hyrdride, lithium, lithium-ion, mercury, etc. The first program in the directive was set for a six-year duration, starting in 1993.
1.B. more than 0.025 % cadmium by weight
1.C. more than 0.4 % lead by weight
The "green" viewpoint (and perhaps that of the Conciliation Committee's) [6] was that the previous Directive had been limited in scope, while groups on the other side set forth reasons for less stringency. Those arguing for broadening the scope claimed that if batteries with certain metals were not banned carte blanche then the waste management effort would be hurt by confusion and perhaps inconvenience to the public.
There were at least six drafts the 2003 version, which was equivalent to a second battery directive. The 2003 revision, Council Directive 2003/0282/COD [7], a July 2006 "conciliation agreement," was a compromise between the European Council and European Parliament, and came after three years of draft revisions. It was welcomed by entities like the European Portable Battery Association (EPBA), that favored less stringency. As in other models of European compliance legislation, a corporation or organizations like the EPBA participates in working groups with members that include, among other players, legislators, large enterprises -- in this case, battery-makers -- trade associations, and non-governmental organizations. The Directive's overall stated objective was still to protect the public interest with a cleaner environment by minimizing the negative impact on the environment of batteries, especially in their waste cycle. Depending on the viewpoint, it was also something of a compromise between 1. manufacturers and distributors, and 3. environmental proponents.
With the exception of "button" cells with mercury content of no more than 2% by weight, the 2006 Battery Directive restates the earlier battery directives' prohibiton of marketing all batteries with more than 0.0005% mercury and 0.002% cadmium, except as noted in Exemptions paragraph below, and mandates symbols on battery labels that indicate the battery's chemical contents if mercury or cadmium (Art.4).
The collection program is found in Annex I. It is proposed that member states set their own country's standards using the Battery Directive as a guide for minimum levels. These levels are stated in terms of percents of prior annual sales. Art. 3-7 says, " 'collection rate' means, for a given Member State in a given calendar year, the percentage obtained by dividing the weight of waste portable batteries and accumulators collected in accordance with Article 8(1) of this Directive or with Directive 2002/96/EC in that calendar year by the average weight of portable batteries and accumulators that producers either sell directly to end-users or deliver to third parties in order to sell them to end-users in that Member State during that calendar year and the preceding two calendar years. "
The member states shall provide collection sites that are accessible and free of charge to the public. Battery distributors may be required to provide this (Art. 8).
The waste battery collection rate targets are specified relative to the date member states pass law pursuant to the Directive, e.g., 25%, four years after law is passed (2012); 45%, eight years after law is passed (2012) (Art. 10 & Annex I).
Art. 2  - Space, militiary, munitions, and "essential security" applications
Art. 4  - Mercury Ban:
Button cells with 2% or less mercury content by weight
Art. 4  - Cadmium Ban:
Emergency, emergency lighting, emergency doors, and alarm systems; medical equipment; cordless power tools
Art. 14 - Incinerator ban:
Residues of batteries that have gone through appropriate treatment as per Art. 12-1 may be placed in landfills or by incineration.
In Art. 21 marking must indicate separate collections or recycling and the heavy metal content. Labels should state collection information and chemical content of batteries. They should show a symbol of the "crossed-out" wheeled recycling bin (Annex II, P. 13 of the new directive [8]) to indicate that the battery should NOT go in the bin. This symbol size is specified as a percent of battery area on its largest side (3%), except for cylindrical batteries, where the symbol should be 1.5% of total surface area.
Sales in year 4 (S4) Collection in year 4 (C4) Collection rate (CR4) = 3*C4/(S2+S3+S4)
Sales in year 8 (S8) Collection in year 8 (C8) Collection rate (CR8) = 3*C8/(S6+S7+S8)
^ Council Directive of 18 March 1991 on Batteries and Accumulators Containing Certain Dangerous Substances (91/157/EEC), European Union Website, Accessed 15.11.06
^ 2006 Battery Directive (Directive 2006/66/EC) Accessed 15.11.06
^ Battery Specific Environmental Safety Law 1996 Battery Safety Act, U.S. E.P.A., Accessed 15.11.06
Official Journal of the European Communities [1]
Battery Recycling; Letsrecycle.com; 2006
EU sets higher collection targets for waste batteries; Fed. Environment, Nature Conservation, & Nuclear Safety Ministry , Germany; Sept. 27, 2006
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Battery_Directive". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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