Waste batteries: new calculation rules for collection

The EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published a working draft on calculation rules for the collection of waste portable and light means of transport (LMT) batteries.

The JRC concludes that a methodology based on waste batteries that are ‘available for collection’ (AfC) is more representative of real waste battery flows than the currently applied put-on-market based calculation method, enabling more realistic performance indicators.

But the new method would require high-quality data on flows outside the collection of producers and their PROs, such as reuse, hoarding and exports, which are largely not available yet.

The methodology would also be more granular, capturing key parameters such as the average lifetime of different battery types ultimately defining when a battery is available for collection, as well as related market trends such as the development of sales volumes for specific battery technologies over time.

Furthermore, the collection of data may adopt country-specific parameters, to capture national behaviours and dynamics, despite being developed at the EU level.

The working draft was open for feedback until 30 October 2023 and will likely serve as a base for the development of related delegated acts to the battery regulation by the European Commission.

Landbell Group company, European Recycling Platform will contribute to the consultation with a position paper.

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