The ministers of Environment of Brussels and Flanders signed a new environmental convention on recycling rechargeable, electric and hybrid car batteries on Monday in Brussels.
The convention was signed at the Benelux trade fair for automotive professionals, Autotechnica, in Brussels by Céline Fremault (Humanist Democratic Centre, cdH) and Joke Schauvliege (Christian Democratic and Flemish, CD&V), representing Brussels and Flanders respectively. It entrusts Febelauto, the agency that manages end-of-life vehicles, with the mission to develop solutions for collecting, processing and recycling these lithion-ion batteries.
Until recently, cars were fitted with classic starter batteries. The advent of hybrid and electric cars now creates the need to find solutions for collecting and recycling industrial batteries. “The new environmental convention sets the management of these batteries for the next five years,” commented Joke Schauvliege. “We’ll therefore be able to make sure the future car fleet goes in the right direction.”
Because of their high tension and different composition than leaden starter batteries, hybrid, rechargeable and electric batteries require specific procedures, Febelauto stressed, adding that the same goes for professionals in the distribution, automobile and recycling sectors.
“By the year 2020, 10% of all new cars should be electrical. The transport, stocking and recycling of EV batteries are very complex tasks, with regard to safety, the environment and technical issues,” confirms Bebat, the agency in charge of collecting, sorting and recycling batteries.
“With the boom in electric vehicles, it is more important than ever to anticipate on the collection, sorting and recycling of the industrial batteries of hybrid and electric vehicles,” Frémault added. “The review of broader mechanisms of responsibility for producers scheduled in my Resources and Waste Management Plan is, in fact, one of the major dossiers for this year.”
