Don't throw your batteries in the dustbin, says Liz Lynne
December 14, 2005 1:20 PM
Battery collection boxes may soon start to appear in every West Midlands home after Euro-MEPs backed plans to boost recycling and halt the leaching of
acid from old batteries into soil and water.
At present, thousands of tonnes of waste batteries and accumulators are being discarded each year polluting the environment even when they contain hazardous substances like mercury, lead or cadmium. The EU is preparing new legislation to try and combat this.
The new directive seeks to better organise the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries and accumulators. It calls for a quarter of all household batteries used annually per person to be collected for recycling within six years.
Local councils will be expected to make arrangements for the collection of batteries from households. Industry must then ensure that at least half of their content is recycled.
Five EU nations currently exceed this collection target with battery collection boxes a familiar sight in homes and offices. In Britain only industrial and vehicles batteries are recycled at present.
Controversially, MEPs have also called for the long term replacement of nickel-cadmium and lead batteries by less toxic alternatives. They want an
immediate ban on their use in household products such as electric toothbrushes and shavers but have supported exemptions for most other purposes until effective alternatives have been developed.
Liz Lynne, Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands, said it was a measured approach that balanced the potential hazards of cadmium with the reality that there were no effective alternatives for use in products such as cordless power tools and aviation control systems.
She said: "Cadmium is a carcinogenic substance that accumulates in the human body and is very toxic to aquatic life. We should be looking to develop
alternatives and phase out its use, but the immediate priority is simply to make sure that we collect as many cadmium batteries as possible and ensure that they are safely recycled."
Iron, nickel and silver can all be recovered from recycled household batteries which might otherwise contaminate soil and groundwater.
Incineration of incinerated batteries can release toxins and heavy metals into the atmosphere.
ENDS.
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