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."

Comments

Re:Very brave

[zippthorne]

Heh, lithium ion batteries in devices worth their salt

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:Convenience

[houghi]

Welcome to the world. I live in Belgium. and all is already available and done.

Convenient way to dispose of "technological waste" such as batteries. Check. Many stores and even offices have a box where you can put your empty batteries that are then dealth with in a convinient way. That way you do not have to handle each and every batter single and on your own.

Tech waste is put in say blue bags. Check. There are several different types of wastebags for different kinds of wast. Larger items, like PC's can be brought back to the store who then handles it further.

A small tax on semi-hazardous tech devices. Check. It is called eco-tax.

Regular bags with a pre-determined message/sign. Check. See above. Different kinds of waste have different kinds of bags.

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 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.