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

effectively be financed at a cost of around €2.5 per household per year. Few
households would be expected to notice this in their budgeting.
The increased level of regulation, the need for additional collection/recycling and the
research and development required to deliver altered/new battery chemistries is
likely to lead to a widening of employment opportunities. Bio Intelligence calculated
the potential job creation opportunities in the EU for different collection rates. These
are shown in Table 25-6.
Table 25-6: Estimation of Job Creation with Portable Battery Collection Rates across
the EU
Collection
Collection
Rate Rate (%
(%
annual
annual
sales)
sales)
Tonnes of
batteries
collected
(‘000s)
Total
Jobs
Created
475
10 10- 10
20%
20%
1,238-
1,444
20 20- 20
30%
30%
30 30- 30
40%
40%
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes
40 40- 40
50%
50%
50 50- 50
60%
60%
60 60- 60
70%
70%
70 70- 70
80%
80%
80 80- 80
90%
90%
90 90- 90
100%
100%
25 41 58 74 91 107 125 140 157
2,063-
2,406
2,888-
3,369
3,713-
4,331
4,538-
5,294
5,363-
6,256
6,188-
7,219
7,013-
8,181
7,838-
9,144
Source: BIO Intelligence Service (2003), Impact Assessment on Selected Policy Options for Revision of
the Battery Directive, Final Report for EC, July 2003.
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/batteries/pdf/eia_batteries_final.pdf
25.10 Complementary Policies
Directive (2002/96/EC) on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) has
been implemented with the purpose of, preventing WEEE, and in addition the re-use,
recycling and recovery of WEEE, thereby reducing the need for its disposal. As many
items of WEEE contain batteries, there are clearly policy inter-linkages. Indeed
clarifying responsibilities for WEEE producers who are also battery producers is one of
the key issues facing Member States as they implement the Battery Directive.
Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) must also
be considered as a policy driver alongside producer responsibility for batteries in the
EU; the RoHS Directive aims to minimise the use of certain hazardous materials in
newly-produced EEE and to minimise the release of hazardous substances into the
environment by controlling the disposal route of older equipment at the end of its life.
Producers must provide evidence that the concentrations of hazardous materials are
below defined levels. The six key restricted substances are lead, cadmium, mercury,
hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl.
The Energy-Using Products (EuP) Directive 2005/32/EC, which came into force in
August 2007, provides a framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for any
group of products which use energy (including EEE). This directive seeks to make
energy efficiency improvements rather than having a direct focus on waste. However,
ensuing product designs which make energy efficiency improvements may also
extend the product’s life, thus contributing indirectly to the prevention of WEEE.