Page 28 from: Recycling International November issue | 2021

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low industry stakeholders insist that
they will support both initiatives if they
are based on ‘truly sustainable solu-
tions’ – which they insist a ban is not.
EU representative José Rizo Martin,
who presented the proposals for the
revised Battery Directive in Geneva,
says the European Commission wants
to be ‘an honest broker’. He adds that
the call for feedback was met with
great enthusiasm by the industry, not
just in Europe. ‘We had several compa-
nies in the US and even Asia, especially
Japan, reach out to us with ideas and
concerns,’ Rizo Martin states. ‘We will
do our best to accommodate them.’

no more Primary Batteries?
A recent assessment by the Öko
Institute in Germany showed that ban-
ning primary batteries would have
only a moderate effect on the amount
of waste batteries (cutting 25% by
weight). But it found there would be

significant negative impact on the
environment, including global warm-
ing, human toxicity, aqua toxicity and
environmental acidification.
Furthermore, three life cycle assess-
ments carried out for portable battery
manufacturers demonstrate that pri-
mary batteries are environmentally
more sustainable than other types of
portable batteries when operated in
low-drain devices, the main area of
application for primary batteries.
Products such as utility meters, envi-
ronmental sensors and asset tracking
devices can last almost two decades.
It is argued that the lower and more
efficient discharge level of primary
batteries, combined with the need for
repeated recharging of secondary bat-
teries, makes them the best choice for
low-drain devices. Over 50% of the
battery appliances market is focused
on miniature, portable, lightweight,
low-drain applications and continued

growth in this segment is expected.
The institute’s analysis indicates that
the prohibition of primary batteries
would mean scrapping of 70% of
today’s battery powered devices,
resulting in considerable waste.

a ‘misleading’ comParison
Battery stakeholders also insist that pri-
mary batteries cannot be compared to
single use products such as certain plas-
tics where no organised collection and
recycling infrastructure exists. ‘Primary
batteries are energy sources and they
have great impact on a vast number of
essential applications and sectors using
primary batteries,’ Craen and his fellow
signatories state. ‘They are designed to
be used many times in one or even mul-
tiple appliances and, in some cases, for
the entire life of the equipment.
Qualifying primary batteries as ‘single
use products’ is hence misleading.’
Apart from this reservation, EPBA fully

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