All batteries in Europe, whatever their size, must now be recycled, as a European regulation comes into force requiring companies to cover the cost of their products' entire life-cycles.
The regulation, adopted in 2023 as a key pillar of the European Green Deal, is part of the European Union's drive to reduce imports of critical raw materials, such as lithium and cobalt and instead use its own, whether from new mines or recuperated from old devices.
Implemented in stages, the regulation requires as of Monday manufacturers to finance the recycling of electric batteries, which will ensure that their critical metals can be reused.
Until now, only small batteries up to 5kg were covered by the rules; now all batteries are concerned – from tiny watch batteries, to those in smartphones, electric scooters and electric cars and buses.
Beyond the costs to companies required to finance the recycling, the impact will be felt by battery recycling companies, which will see a massive increase in the amount of material to be treated – from about 30,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes
Every year, one and a half billion new batteries are placed on the European market. Recycling them is an environmental issue, but also one of economic sovereignty.
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Europe lagging
"There is a desire to keep strategic metals in France and Europe," Emmanuel Toussaint Dauvergne, director of Batribox, a French organisation that collects used batteries, told RFI.
"If the French government wants to promote batteries, it must be able to produce them or have them produced in Europe. To do this, it must be able to own the metals essential to their design. It is important that there be coordination of the flow so that they remain on European territory and can be used by battery manufacturers."
European legislation requires a quarter of critical metals to come from recycled materials in Europe by 2030.
And yet, Europe lags behind the rest of the world in battery manufacturing, so most critical metals are currently being sent mainly to China for processing.
But there is time for the system to catch up, as recently-imported batteries will only be recyclable in ten or fifteen years' time, giving time to adjust.
