25 September 2008
EU BATTERY RECYCLING RULES IN FORCE FROM TOMORROW
Photo courtesy of Moria
Trevor Sargent, Minister for Food and Horticulture and local TD, has welcomed an EU Directive whereby users of waste batteries will be entitled to return them free of charge for recycling. 50,000 drop-off boxes have been delivered to various shops, supermarkets and garages nationwide to facilitate customers and no purchase is necessary. This comes into effect across the European Union tomorrow, 26 September 2008. Ireland is to the forefront of EU member states that will have the Directive fully transposed & operational from the commencement date.
Launching the new recycling scheme today, the Minister for the Environment John Gormley called on businesses, schools and the public service to take a lead in providing space for boxes storing waste batteries, as the achievement by Ireland of mandatory collection targets for portable batteries will be dependant on the number and accessibility of collection points. Producers will be responsible for the financing of the collection, treatment, and recycling and environmentally sound management of waste batteries.
Mobile phones, laptops and car batteries are covered by the scheme that aims to ensure that ¼ of all batteries are recycled by 2012 and nearly a half by 2016. However, leaking batteries can only be deposited at a local authority recycling centre.
Did you know? Over 2,000 tonnes of batteries are sold annually which equates to 80 million AA batteries.
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