BRUSSELS, 20 February 2017 — The European Portable Battery Association (EPBA) released today the 4th update of its annual report on the collection of waste portable batteries.

Based on the 2015 data, 11 out of 28 EU Member States have reached or exceeded the 45% collection target. These Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden.

Additionally, the report also indicates that it will be very challenging - if not impossible - for the remaining 17 Member States to reach the legislative target set for 2016. The report’s conclusions build further on the findings of the previous updates and confirm the concerns that EPBA has voiced consistently since 2005 regarding the overall achievability of the 45% target.

Hans Craen, Secretary General of EPBA, said that “achievability of collection targets as well as the calculation basis will be important points of discussion in the recast of the Batteries Directive.”

This update also identifies important concerns with the quality of data on which is based the calculation for the collection targets and which impacts, or sometimes even inflates, the overall national collection results. Low data regarding portable batteries placed on the market (e.g. Slovakia) as well as high numbers of purchased batteries outside the boundaries of a country (e.g. Luxembourg) can result in higher collection percentages, although it does not reflect the actual “put on market” data.

About the report
The annual report monitors achievement of targets for battery collection set in the EU’s Battery Directive and gives examples of best practices by looking at the countries that achieve high collection rates. It also suggests ways to improve the collection systems.

This update relates to the 2015 collection results and provides the most comprehensive analysis of the collection rates for portable batteries in the EU Member States as well as Norway and Switzerland.

The report can be downloaded from the EPBA website via this link.

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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
Secretary General
EPBA
+32 2 761 16 02
epba@kellencompany.com