At present it is estimated that around 75 per cent of spent batteries sold across the EU end up on landfill sites. With the world battery market projected to grow by 5 per cent a year over the next few years, the Commission has decided to revamp and strengthen EU legislation on the issue and has issued a proposal for a new directive.

COLLECTION SYSTEMS AND TARGETS

Under the new directive, member states would be required to take the necessary measures to prevent the final disposal of spent batteries and accumulators and to aim at achieving a closed loop system for all spent batteries and accumulators. Part of this will include setting up better collection systems. In particular, member states would have to ensure that:

• schemes are set up under which spent portable batteries and accumulators can be returned free of charge and collection facilities are available and accessible, having regard to population density;
• producers of industrial batteries and accumulators, or third parties acting on their behalf, take back from end-users spent industrial batteries and accumulators, regardless of chemical composition and origin; and
• producers of automotive batteries and accumulators, or third parties acting on their behalf, set up schemes for the collection of spent automotive batteries and accumulators, unless they are collected through other EU schemes.

When setting up collection schemes, the negative external impacts of transport would have to be taken into account. Producers would be allowed to set up individual or collective take-back schemes provided these conformed to the directive. The land filling and incineration industrial and automotive batteries would be prohibited.

In terms of targets, a minimum average collection rate equivalent to 160 grams per inhabitant per year for all spent portable batteries and accumulators including portable nickel-cadmium batteries would have to be achieved within four years. By the same date, a specific minimum collection rate equivalent to 80 per cent of the total quantity of spent portable nickel-cadmium batteries and accumulators per year would have to be achieved. The total quantity would comprise portable nickel-cadmium batteries and accumulators collected annually through collection schemes as well as those disposed of annually in the municipal solid waste stream. Member states with geographical difficulties, such as a large number of small islands or the presence of rural and mountainous areas and low population density, would be able to apply for an extension to the deadline of up to 36 months.

TREATMENT AND RECYCLING

Once collected, producers would be required to treat the spent batteries and accumulators using the best available treatment and recycling techniques. As a minimum this would include the removal of all fluids and acids, even temporarily, in sites with impermeable surfaces and suitable weatherproof covering or in suitable containers. Treatment could take place abroad provided other relevant EU legislation was complied with. Member states would be required to promote the development of new recycling and treatment technologies, and research into environmentally friendly and cost-effective recycling methods for all types of batteries and accumulators. In addition, they would have to encourage treatment facilities to introduce certified environmental management schemes in accordance with EU law.

Within one year of the directive's implementation all portable batteries and accumulators and all industrial and automotive batteries and accumulators collected would have to enter a recycling process, with an exemption of up to 10 per cent for technical reasons in the case of the portables. Within three years the following recycling efficiencies would have to be achieved:

• recycling of all the lead and a minimum of 65 per cent by average weight of the materials contained in lead-acid batteries and accumulators;
• recycling of all the cadmium and a minimum of 75 per cent by average weight of the materials contained in nickel-cadmium batteries and accumulators; and
• recycling of 55 per cent by average weight of the materials contained in other spent batteries and accumulators.

On the issue of funding, producers would have to arrange the financing for at least the treatment, recycling and sound disposal of portables deposited at the collection facilities set up under the directive. For industrial and automotive batteries, member states would allow producers and users to conclude financial agreements. When placing a product on the market, each producer would be registered and would have to provide a guarantee that the management of spent batteries and accumulators would be financed. Producers would also be responsible for the costs of managing historic waste, ie batteries and accumulators put on the market before the directive.

CONSUMER INFORMATION

Under the directive consumers would have to be fully informed of:

• the potential effects on the environment and human health of the substances used in batteries and accumulators;
• the requirement not to dispose of spent batteries and accumulators as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such waste separately;
• the collection and recycling schemes available to them;
• their role in contributing to the recycling of spent batteries and accumulators; and
• the meaning of the symbol of the crossed-out wheeled bin and the chemical symbols Hg, Cd and Pb referred to in the directive's annexes.

MONITORING

Member states would have to monitor the quantities of portable NiCd batteries and accumulators found in the municipal solid waste stream and report this to the Commission. The Commission would then evaluate the specific environmental risks related to the use of cadmium in batteries and accumulators on a regular basis.

COM (2003) 723. Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and spent batteries and accumulators. Visit: http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/en/com/pdf/2003/com2003_0723en01.pdf

Environmental justice

Following on from its 2002 consultation on ways of increasing involvement by ordinary citizens in the legal processes surrounding environmental protection (EHJ, August 2002, page 252) the Commission issued a draft directive last October on access to justice in environmental matters.

The directive would require member states to ensure that members of the public, where they met the criteria laid down in national law, had access to environmental proceedings in order to challenge acts and omissions by private persons which were in breach of environmental law. In addition, the public would have to be given access to environmental proceedings, including interim relief, in order to challenge the procedural and substantive legality of administrative acts and administrative omissions in breach of environmental law where:

• they had a sufficient interest, or
• they maintained the impairment of a right, where the administrative procedural law required this as a precondition.

These conditions would be defined by the member states themselves. The directive would also allow what it calls qualified entities similar rights without meeting the above conditions. This would apply where the matter of review in respect of which an action was brought was covered specifically by the statutory activities of the qualified entity and the review fell within the specific geographical area of activities of that entity. In order to be recognised as a qualified entity, an international, national, regional or local association, organisation or group would have to meet certain criteria, eg it must be an independent and non-profit-making legal person with the objective of protecting the environment. Such entities would be subject to a national recognition procedure.

The directive would lay down how to make a request for internal review of an administrative act or omission. Where a decision on a request was not taken within the time limits specified, the applicant would be entitled to institute environmental proceedings. These must be adequate and effective and must be objective, equitable, expeditious and not prohibitively expensive.

COM (2003) 624. Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on access to justice in environmental matters Visit: http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/en/com/pdf/2003/com2003_0624en01.pdf