ILA to join international review of battery recycling standards
An international environmental body which oversees the safe global management of chemicals and waste has agreed to review and update the guidelines for responsibly recycling lead batteries.
ILA’s special adviser Brian Wilson (pictured above) attended the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Basel Convention in Geneva which discussed the need to update the existing technical guidelines for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of used lead batteries..
The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are multilateral environmental agreements for the sound management of wastes.
At the COP, which was attended by more than 1500 delegates from 200 countries, it was agreed that a special technical group will be established to review and update the guidelines.
The group will also review the need to introduce and prepare guidelines for responsibly recycling other battery technologies.
The Basel convention’s secretariat approved ILA’s request to nominate Brian Wilson to provide technical assistance to the working group.
Speaking after the meeting Brian Wilson said: “There was universal support for the request to update the technical guidance for lead battery recycling. And the technical contact group also noted differences between batteries in terms of their management, recycling and safe disposal including the fact that technologies for disposing of, or recycling lithium-ion batteries are still emerging.”
Dr Steve Binks, ILA Regulatory Affairs Director said: “This is an important part of our ongoing commitment to safe and responsible battery recycling in low and middle-income countries. The Basel technical guidelines are the recognised standard and ILA will now contribute to updating them.”
ILA has joined the Protecting Every Child’s Potential initiative alongside UNICEF and Pure Earth, to support efforts to reduce the impact of unsafe lead battery recycling in low and middle-income countries.
