Directive on Batteries and Accumulators + Battery Bin update

Slightly more than a month has passed and the battery bins are gaining weight!

The bin needs just a couple more used battery’s to be cleaned up and and have the bin restored to a manageable weight :) So go through your past items and long lost bags of used batteries which many of us have collected to dispose of properly over time but never had the chance to do so.

This is what we mainly found in the bin. A collection of used batteries mounting to more than a kilogram each. Also as you can see in the pictures we have also collected laptop batteries and large batteries so dont consider only pencil batteries but also those batteries which are rechargeable but which have run out of their lifetime and which also need safe disposal.

When making use of the battery bin outside canteen. I encourage you to consider the waste we are creating everyday by making use of these UN-rechargable battries which disposal is expensive and time consuming process which can only minimise given the present technology the enviornmental damage of these chemicals, Therefore, Reduce and Reuse before you recycle.

To know more here the summary on the Directive on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repealing Directive 91/157/EEC:

As a minimum, treatment must include removal of all fluids and acids. Batteries and accumulators must be treated and stored (even if only temporarily) in sites with impermeable surfaces and weatherproof covering, or in suitable containers.

The recycling of battery and accumulator content to produce similar products or for other purposes has to reach the following levels by 26 September 2011:

at least 65% by average weight of lead-acid batteries and accumulators, including the recycling of the lead content to the highest degree that is technically feasible;

75% by average weight of nickel-cadmium batteries and accumulators, including the recycling of the lead content to the highest degree that is technically feasible;

at least 50% by average weight of other battery and accumulator waste.

If there is no viable end market, or if a detailed assessment of environmental, economic and social impact concludes that recycling is not the best solution, Member States may dispose of batteries and accumulators containing cadmium, mercury or lead in landfills or underground storage. Otherwise, it is prohibited to put waste from industrial and automotive batteries and accumulators into landfill, or to incinerate it; only residues from treating and recycling them may be disposed of in these ways.

Treatment and recycling may take place outside the Member State concerned or even outside the Community, provided EU legislation on the shipment of waste is respected.

The producers have to bear the cost of collecting, treating and recycling industrial, automotive and portable batteries and accumulators, as well as the costs of campaigns to inform the public of these arrangements. Small producers may be exempted from this obligation if this does not impede the proper functioning of the collection and recycling schemes. All producers of batteries and accumulators have to be registered.

End-users are to be informed in various ways:

through campaigns covering, among other things, the potential effects on the environment and human health of the substances used in batteries and accumulators, and the collection and recycling arrangements at the end-users' disposal;

being directly informed by distributors that they can discard waste batteries and accumulators at sales points;

visible, legible and indelible markings on batteries, accumulators and battery packs with the following information: the symbol of the crossed-out wheeled bin (in Annex II to the Directive); the capacity of the accumulator or the portable battery; the chemical symbols Hg, Cd and Pb if the batteries, accumulators or button cells contain over 0.0005% mercury, over 0.002% cadmium or over 0.004% lead. If the battery, accumulator or battery pack are too small, this information appears on the packaging

EMPOWER YOURSELF BY INFORMING YOURSELF