In the European Union (EU), a legislative proposal was agreed to create a more sustainable life cycle for batteries and rechargeable batteries. Among other things, it is intended that consumers can remove and replace them themselves from electronic devices. The way to a specialist could thus become superfluous in the event of battery problems.
The European Council and the European Parliament have agreed on regulations for the interchangeability of batteries in laptops and smartphones. In the future, manufacturers will have to design their products in such a way that consumers can replace or remove a battery themselves. The regulations also affect the production of batteries and rechargeable batteries and their recycling in order to strengthen sustainability. However, it will be some time before the EU regulation comes into force. Once the process has been completed and the regulations have come into force, the companies still have 42 months to ensure that their batteries can actually be replaced.
Circular economy to make batteries in the EU more sustainable
The provisional regulation includes all batteries and rechargeable batteries in mobile devices, industrial batteries and batteries in vehicles and machines. The EU also wants to better control the life cycle of batteries. There are new obligations for the collection and recycling of used batteries. This means more responsibility for manufacturers.
Comprehensive recycling of the batteries should also ensure the availability of rare raw materials such as lithium. The overarching goal is to mitigate the environmental impact of battery and rechargeable battery production, which has been continuously increasing over the past few years. Many raw materials used in the manufacture of batteries are not only rare, but also toxic. That is why the agreement contains more precise quantities for recycling so that cobalt, lead, lithium and nickel can be recovered.
Marian Jurečka, Czech Minister for the Environment, therefore comments on the EU plans: “The new regulations will promote the competitiveness of EU industry and ensure (…) that useful material is recovered and no toxic substances are released into the environment.”
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Replacing the rechargeable battery and batteries yourself makes recycling easier
The EU’s considerations are based on forecasts for traffic conversion to lower-emission carriers such as electric vehicles. Battery production could therefore increase more than tenfold by 2030. The EU therefore wants to ensure that there are enough batteries by then, but that the supply chains are also secured in the long term.
If consumers replace their batteries and accumulators themselves, they can be returned to the material cycle more easily. Batteries that are firmly glued together and difficult to replace, on the other hand, make replacement difficult and, in case of doubt, the built-in energy storage devices are almost worthless. In 2019, a whopping 19.4 kilograms of e-waste was produced per capita in Germany. This puts Germany below the average for other EU countries. In comparison to developing countries, however, the situation is very different. And even richer countries like China only get 7.2 kilograms per capita. The increased replacement of weak batteries by users themselves should counteract the increasing flood of broken devices and unusable recyclables.