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

26.0 Producer Responsibility, Batteries - Germany
26.1 Outline of Policy
According to the Battery Decree (Batterieverordnung - BattV) all producers/importers
and retailers are obliged to collect free of charge used portable batteries and
accumulators of the kind they have sold. 558 Consumers are not allowed to dispose of
spent portable batteries in the residual waste and instead have to return them to
retailers selling batteries, other retail collection points or local municipality collection
points , e.g. town hall (Articles 5 and 15 BattV). Retailers have a duty to inform
consumers of the possibilities to return batteries to the retailer (Articles 12 and 15
BattV) and are required to take back used batteries regardless of whether these were
purchased in their store. The producers/importers have to organize the recycling, or if
not possible, the safe disposal of batteries. 559 The collection system has to guarantee
the following conditions:
478
� Be available to all manufacturers under the same terms and conditions;
� Collect all batteries, regardless of their type, brand or origin;
� Collect batteries free of charge from the collection points agreed with the
retailers or at the collection points provided by the municipalities, and proceed
with recycling or disposal;
� Provide suitable collection containers at the collection points free of charge;
� Issue invitations to tender for collection and treatment/disposal services such
as logistics, collection, transportation, sorting, battery recycling and the
disposal of non-recyclable batteries in a procedure which ensures a
competitive allocation, for a maximum of three years;
� Secure funding by ensuring that the costs remaining after collection, recycling
and disposal, including sales tax and other necessary overheads, are divided
among the individual manufacturers in proportion to the share of the
respective previous year's sales (according to the volume of batteries
subdivided by type), and that appropriate contributions are made by the
individual manufacturers; and
� Publish, at least once a year, the costs of collection, sorting, recycling and
disposal of the collected batteries, subdivided by type.
558 Batterieverordnung (BattV) as of: 27 March 1998 (Federal Law Gazette BGBl. I, p. 658).
559 A different regulation is in force for automotive batteries. To achieve a maximum return rate of used
automotive batteries the consumer has to pay a compulsory deposit of 7.50 EUR when buying a new
battery without returning a used battery in its place (Article 6 BattV).
29/09/09