Give us your batteries! You use them, we collect them. EPBA goes to Strasbourg to raise awareness on portable battery collection.

BRUSSELS, 18 APRIL 2019 — The European Portable Battery Association (EPBA) organised yesterday a campaign in the European Parliament in Strasbourg to raise awareness about portable battery collection.

EPBA Team with MEP Gilles Pargneaux

MEP Gilles Pargneaux and Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete at the EPBA Stand in Strasbourg.

With the support of MEP Gilles Pargneaux (S&D) and together with EUCOBAT (European association of national collection schemes for batteries), Corepile and Screlec (both French take-back schemes), the one-day campaign aimed at highlighting the challenges in reaching the 45% collection target set by the Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC.

Based on the 2017 data[1], only 18 out of the 28 EU Member States have reached or exceeded the 45% collection target. The current calculation methodology which is based on three-year average sales does not reflect the reality of the portable battery market. EPBA advocates for a collection target that is based on what is available for collection, taking into account the batteries that are exported outside the EU either in appliances (EEE) or in electronic waste (WEEE).

“The current calculation methodology has hampered the achievement of the Directive’s 45% collection target for waste portable batteries in Europe. This is a message that EPBA will continue insisting on during the revision process of the Batteries Directive,” stated Hans Craen, EPBA’s Secretary General.

Download press release here

EPBA Battery Collection Info Sheet

The video of the event is available here

-End-

 About EPBA

The European Portable Battery Association is the leading voice of the portable power industry. It supports the common interests of its members regarding portable batteries and battery chargers with European institutions and other leading international bodies to provide consumers with complete power solutions which are sustainable across their life-cycle.

For more information contact:

Hans Craen, EPBA’s Secretary General

+32 2 761 16 02 -  epba@kellencompany.com

[1] EPBA, The collection of waste portable batteries in Europe in view of the achievability of the collection targets set by Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC, March 2019, https://www.epbaeurope.net/news/epba-study-on-the-collection-of-waste-portable-batteries-in-europe-data-2017-short-update/