New legislation, designed to ensure that all waste industrial and automotive batteries are recycled in the future, is now in effect.
The legislation which came in to effect on 1 January requires producers of industrial and automotive batteries to arrange the collection, treatment and recycling of such batteries, free of charge, if requested by business end-users and final holders.
The new rules require any persons placing batteries on the market to register as a producer of batteries, and report on waste batteries collected and sent for recycling.
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, says that the regulations are designed to complement “the excellent recycling rates traditionally achieved for industrial and automotive batteries.”
In simple terms, Lucas says, “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.”
Tim Brown
