International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

24.0 Producer Responsibility, Batteries - Ireland
24.1 Outline of Policy
Ireland’s Waste Management (Batteries and Accumulators) Regulations (S.I No. 268
of 2008) transposes the EU Directive 2006/66/EU on waste batteries into national
legislation. The EU Directive aims to minimise the negative impact of waste batteries
and accumulators on the environment, and to harmonise the heavy metal content
and labelling of batteries and accumulators across the European market.
The EU Directive aims to recycle 25% of portable batteries by 2012 with a target of
45% of all waste batteries to be recycled by 2016. WEEE (Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment) Ireland, the authorised compliance scheme for electronic and
battery recycling in Ireland, is currently rolling out its battery recycling programme
which will see 50,000 waste battery drop-off boxes being delivered to 10,000 retail
outlets throughout the country.
According to the Batteries Directive there are three distinct battery classifications –
industrial, automotive and portable (usually defined as sealed and hand carried).
Whilst it is clear to which sector of the economy industrial batteries belong, portable
batteries are used across consumer, commercial and industrial sectors (though the
vast majority are used in consumer applications). Automotive batteries also straddle
all three sectors.
As noted in the Directive, “batteries” is used to mean single-life batteries (sometimes
also referred to as ‘primary’ batteries), and “accumulators” to mean rechargeable
batteries (sometimes also referred to as ‘secondary’ batteries). In this report
“batteries” is taken to mean both batteries and accumulators, unless otherwise
specified.
It is estimated that in addition to automotive batteries, which are mostly recycled,
around 2,000 tonnes of portable batteries are sold in Ireland each year with the vast
majority being discarded as residual waste instead of being recycled due their small
size. 525 The regulations provide for the free take-back of all waste batteries and
accumulators, otherwise known as rechargeable batteries, in-store and at designated
locations.
Taken with the continued implementation of the WEEE and RoHS Directives,
transposition of the new Batteries Directive will complete a comprehensive corpus of
EU and national legislation for the EEE (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) sector.
The Directive will facilitate the effective environmental management of waste
batteries.
525 WEEE Ireland, News Release, 13 th August 2008, “Countdown Underway to New Battery Recycling
Scheme”.
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