These measures are of an utmost importance for the transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy. Such a level of ambition shall be kept as EU institutions are entering the final stages of the negotiations.
We strongly welcome the amendments on recycled content targets (Article 8) which are addressed to more battery types than initially proposed and are crucial to further closing the loop in the battery value chain. As consistently stressed by EuRIC, European recyclers strongly support mandatory recycled content targets for battery production as an efficient and necessary policy instrument to increase the demand for high quality materials coming from recycling and provide the predictability needed to long term investments and capacity-building in Europe along the value chain.
EuRIC is also extremely pleased to see that portable batteries and batteries from light means of transport (LMT) must – by 2024 – be designed for an easy and safe removal. Easy and safe removal in combination, with the proof needed by the producers to allow in the future a permanent connection between the appliance and the battery, is undoubtedly a substantial step forward towards achieving the ambitious targets set in the EU Green Deal. Safe removal is also essential to prevent battery fires, which are an enormous problem for the recycling industry.
Tess Pozzi – Chair of EuRIC WEEE Recycling Group, “Actors across all value chains must embrace the circular economy concept and work together alongside to achieve a sustainable Europe. The combination of ambitious targets for waste portable batteries and batteries from light means of transport collection targets combined with eco-design requirements demonstrate that the holistic approach embedded in the Battery is the best way-forward”.
Emmanuel KATRAKIS, Secretary General of EuRIC, stressed that “transitioning towards a circular economy is key to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050. Binding recycled content targets for batteries and other materials will play a key role in achieving that goal. Though there is still room for improvement, the position adopted by the ENVI Committee after long negotiations is definitively the right way forward’’, he concluded.
