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

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� Countries where separate collection of NiCd batteries was well developed –
Denmark and Norway (40-50% of spent NiCd batteries are collected).
� Countries where separate collection was not developed (0-15% of portable
batteries available for collection are estimated to be collected in these
countries).
25.2.3 Non-EU Countries
There are, however, countries outside the EU that adopted similar measures, and
these are evaluated in more detail in the following section.
25.2.3.1 North America
In the 1990s, as proposals were circulating in Europe to ban cadmium in batteries,
several states in the US, including Minnesota and New Jersey, enacted manufacturer
take-back requirements on NiCd rechargeable batteries. In 1994, as the state takeback
requirements were being phased in, a producer responsibility organisation
called the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) was established by the
rechargeable battery industry in response to a report by the Environmental Protection
Agency that NiCd batteries were responsible for more than half the cadmium found in
the municipal waste stream. In 2001 the RBRC began to accept all rechargeable
batteries.
At the time, the scheme, the first industry-wide voluntary take-back programme in the
US and Canada, was hailed as a model of producer responsibility, though by 2000 it
was apparent that it was completely failing to meet the original targets it had set. The
RBRC anticipated collecting 14 million pounds of batteries per year by 2003, but by
2005 only 5 million pounds were being collected, highlighting the lack of clout of what
was a ‘weak’ voluntary system. 543
The US Congress did pass the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Act in
1996 and for these regulated batteries, the act requires the following:
� Batteries must be easily removable from consumer products, to make it easier
to recover them for recycling;
� Battery labels must include the battery chemistry, the recycling symbol, and a
phrase indicating that the user must recycle or dispose of the battery properly;
� National uniformity in collection, storage, and transport of certain batteries;
and
� Phase out the use of certain mercury-containing batteries.
Following this, many states passed legislation prohibiting incineration and landfilling
of mercury-based and lead acid batteries.
543 http://www.rbrc.org/docs/ProgramOverview.pdf
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes