EU Proposing Mandatory Battery Recycling

Ironsides writes "The BBC Reports that the European Union is working on a directive to mandate battery recycling. Among other things, it will ban more than trace amounts of cadmium and mercury and require all batteries to be removeable. If it passes, it will be interesting to see how this affects such devices as MP3 players that generally do not have removeable rechargeable batteries."

Re:Very brave

[zippthorne]

Heh, lithium ion batteries in devices worth their salt [wikipedia.org]

Re:Non-removable batteries

[quanticle]

NiCd batteries are still used in power tools and other industrial applications because of their ability to deliver large amounts of current quickly.

Re:Not a bad idea

[ivan256]

Cadmium is *very* common. There aren't very many types of batteries that can deliver sustained, high current like a Nickel Cadmium battery. That's why they use them in Hybrid cars. There aren't any other types of battery that would be suitable for that use that wouldn't either be prohibitively expensive or heavy.

The batteries I would wonder about are the imports that sell for a fifth of the price of a set of duracels.

The same stuff that's in the duracells... just a lot less of it. Weigh a cheap battery sometime, and then weigh a duracell or an energizer, and you can see for yourself.

Hammer...

[Anonymous Coward]

If the battery is not removable, you just need a better hammer.

Re:Non-removable batteries

[adtifyj]

Nations that have been around a lot longer than the United States of America have had plenty of time to think about waste management and other issues that can be swept under the table for only a few hundred years; certainly more than you chose to put into your comment.

For example, in Germany the cost of the individual throwing away the MP3 player would be calculated in advance of the product being placed on the shelf, and the company producing the MP3 player would be required to pay for the disposal costs [colby.edu] of each unit sold. This approach does not favour any specific technology or product; it merely ensures that products sold are accountable for the waste or damage they place on society.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

A good idea but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Situations in Europe vary from countries : for example, German people are known to be very careful of the recycling. In France, the situation differs a bit.

Since several years, in big metropolitan areas, people have different garbage cans for paper, recyclable plastics, food and unrecyclable stuff, etc. Some of these big metropolitan areas have even moved a step forwared in what is called the "durable developement" : they have build nature-friendly power plants that consume wood garbages, or uses the methane from decomposition for the central heading in habitation buildings.

In the past, French people weren't very fond of the recycling and didn't care much about it. More and more do, and authorities have set up mandatory battery recycling for garages and battery retailers. But as more and more people are buying computers and electronic stuff, no one knows how to manages these kinds of garbage. And even if the battery recycling becomes mandatory, what should I do and where should I go for my old digital walkman with a build-in battery ?

My hometown (in the U.S.) already requires this

[Anonymous Coward]

As of a few months ago, the city ordinance of my home city in California banned the disposal of batteries or electronics of any kind in the regular trash. One day every year the city receives problem waste from the inhabitants free of charge.

The ordinance is completely unenforceable but it has changed my conduct, probably that of many other people as well. So it might significantly reduce the amount of toxic waste ending up in landfills.

California already has such a law!

[Palal]

California already passed such a law (http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/Batteries/) and requires that all batteries be recycled. While good in theory, this law is hard to enforce unless you dump a couple of pounds of batteries in your garbage. Even then, you can always say it was your neighbor that used your garbage can.

I've been recycling batteries ever since I can remember. Radio Shack stores used to take non-rechargables and then they quit. I switched to Walgreens, which still accepts them.

Already been done for years in Germany

[PontifexPrimus]

In Germany we had the Batterieverordnung [sup-im-net.de] since 1998, and it hasn't had the catastrophic consequences most people in this thread imagine. It just means you can't toss old batteries in the trash (and yes, they do check occasionally) but have to take them back to any store where batteries are sold (not just electronics stores) and dump 'em into the recycling containers conveniently displayed at the entrance of the store. In the case of non-removable batteries you have to turn in your whole device and hand it in at any electronics shop. I really don't see where the problem is with that, and why it should be so much better than the American way of just putting all kinds of garbage in a bag, burying it in a landfill and then forgetting about it until the cancer rates go up.

Re:Already been done for years in Germany

[junge_m]

Under the strickt rule of the Batterieverordnung (it is called Verordnung (eng. order) but it has the weight of a law) you are not allowed to sell products which do not have user removeable batteries ind Germany, with a list of exception. These include pacemakers ind implatable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). For these exempt products the manufacturer has to make sure that at the end of the lifecycle the product is returned to the manufacturer for correct disposal. I have salvaged pacemakers and ICD from corpses at the crematorium Hamburg-Öjendorf for the whole duration that the Batterieverordnung has been in place. For the results obtained you can visit http://www.drjunge.de/ [drjunge.de]