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EU will force families to recycle batteries(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)HOUSEHOLDS will be told to recycle batteries under an EU directive. Brussels yesterday decreed that at least 45 per cent of batteries should be saved from incineration or landfill sites by 2016. Local authorities will be obliged to set up collection schemes within two years and could even impose fines on homes that fail to separate batteries from other waste. But battery manufacturers will have to cover the costs of the initiative and are likely to pass the burden on to their customers. From 2008, the firms will have to ensure batteries are easy to remove from appliances and carry labels stating which products are the most energy efficient. Retailers will also have provide recycling boxes in their stores. Alkaline batteries contain zinc, carbon and manganese, much of which ends up in landfill sites. Other types of batteries contain cadmium and mercury which can damage the environment and are a threat to fish. Some batteries contain toxic heavy metals such as lead. The crackdown was agreed by MEPs and EU ministers yesterday in an attempt to reduce mercury and lead pollution. Less than one per cent of UK batteries are recycled compared with 59 per cent in Belgium. That amounts to 30,000 tons of extra waste. The Government's record on the recycling of batteries has been described by the Liberal Democrats as 'shameful'. The party warns that the burying and burning of batteries poses a major health risk. Some 90 per cent of car batteries are recycled, however, because of the market value of the lead they contain. Until last year the UK had no recycling facilities for household batteries and the cost of sending them abroad was a deterrent. MEPs had pushed for tougher recovery and recycling targets and a total ban on nickel-cadmium batteries. But they settled for a 50 per cent recycling target for all batteries not containing cadmium or lead and 75 per cent and 65 percent targets for cadmium and lead batteries. A European Parliament spokesman said the success of the scheme would depend on consumers as well as on businesses and councils. 'Things will be much easier for consumers,' he said. 'Labels will have to indicate the real capacity of the batteries and accumulators they buy.' |