MEP Simona Bonafé (S&D, Italy), who was rapporteur for the revision of all EU waste legislation, supports the draft regulation on batteries and waste batteries and intends to improve it to take full advantage of the innovative life-cycle approach of this future legislation.
The future regulation aims to develop a real European market for batteries and to promote the circular economy (see EUROPE 12738/17).
“I support this approach, which takes up what the European Parliament asked the Commission to do in its resolution on the second circular action plan, which we adopted in February. This holistic approach should be the rule for all future legislation, such as the packaging legislation and the sustainable products initiative”, said Ms Bonafé when presenting, on 11 October, her draft report for opinion to the Parliament’s Committee on Environment (ENVI).
She proposes to amend the definitions to clarify the regulatory framework for the main categories of batteries placed on the market and their end use, by specifying the thresholds and parameters present in the Commission proposal.
Ms Bonafe suggests adding a new definition of batteries included in light-duty vehicles, whose market share is rapidly increasing due to their use for sustainable mobility in cities.
Her report also proposes to set minimum recycled content requirements for all types of batteries, except for general purpose portable batteries.
Supporting mandatory requirements for extended producer responsibility, Ms Bonafé said that the articles of the Waste Framework Directive on extended producer responsibility should take into account the minimum requirements for batteries and that the regulation should provide for additional measures with specific requirements for batteries to ensure proper management of waste batteries and to strengthen battery waste prevention.
See the draft report: https://bit.ly/30cYvar (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)