Portable battery definition change
All in the definition. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) wants to change how it defines “portable” batteries, which could affect how you store, treat and recycle them. A new consultation on the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 has been launched looking specifically at changing the definition in the government guidance notes.
Why? The move is designed to address a discrepancy which is said to be causing a disproportionate amount of the UK’s battery recycling obligation to be met by lead acid batteries. As such, there’s a need for collections of other types to significantly increase if the UK is to meet its mandatory EU battery recycling targets.
What’s being proposed? Portable batteries is the only category to which a recycling target has been attached. They are classified as being “sealed, hand-carriable without difficulty, and used for neither automotive nor industrial purposes” . But recyclers argue that they are unaware of the original use of some lead acid batteries, so it’s impossible to determine if they fall into the “industrial” or “portable” classification. As a result, many are reported as being “portable” - massively inflating the number of lead acid batteries that are counted towards recycling targets compared to the amount sold by producers. The plan is for batteries only to be classed as “portable” if they fall under a suggested 3kg threshold - shifting from the current definition which says they should be “hand-carriable” to qualify.
Tip. If you use and recycle non-industrial batteries, get in touch with your waste contractor to find out if the move will affect you. If your batteries fall into a different category of waste in the future, your contractor could impose a different price plan.
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