Dear One and All,

This may be a little off topic I grant you, but it is Friday.....

Anyhoo, I was reading through the EU Commission's "Questions and Answers on the new Batteries Directive" and came across an answer that had me chuckling and I thought that perhaps I should share it with the group.

In case you hadn't read it, the new batteries directive is kinda like the new WEEE directive in that it makes the people who put batteries onto the market (and if you're the first one to put the battery on the market by incorporating it in your product on that market then its you....) cover the cost of their disposal etc.

However, back to the Q&A's.

The question: "What is the environmental problem addressed by the Directive?"

The answer: "There are environmental concerns about the waste management of batteries....because of the metals they contain....In the case of incineration, the metals used in batteries contribute to the air emissions and pollute incineration residues. When batteries end up in landfills, the metals contribute to the leachate from landfills. The risks cannot be quantified due to the lack of methodology to assess the long-term leachate from landfills".

So they can't give data on long term leachate from landfills, yet they can for RoHS effects? Which they also then can't because they possibly got wrong and aren't sure anymore.

Ermm....hello....is it me? 

Nic Bowker
Technical Resources Adviser
PLASA Ltd.
38 St Leonards Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 3UT, UK.
Tel:  +44 (0)1323 410335 : Fax: +44 (0)1323 646905
Email: [log in to unmask] : Website: www.plasa.org

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