Sweeping new rules for the design, production and waste management of all types of batteries sold in the EU will mean a number of major changes to how tech products are designed.
The new law “takes into account technological developments and future challenges in the sector and will cover the entire battery life cycle, from design to end-of-life.”
A number of the changes are to do with the environmental impact of batteries, such as a compulsory carbon footprint declaration and label for electric vehicle batteries, stricter waste collection targets, and minimum levels of recycled content from manufacturing and consumer waste for use in new batteries.
The biggest change in how products will be designed, however, is a law that ensures portable batteries in appliances are designed in such a way that consumers can themselves easily remove and replace them.
This will take mobile phones back to the days of the so-called brick phones, where the batteries could be removed and replaced – and often required them to be removed in order to charge. Aside from being a more user-friendly process, this also allows phone manufacturers to sell spare batteries.
“For the first time, we have circular economy legislation that covers the entire life cycle of a product – an approach that is good for both the environment and the economy,” said Achille Variati, of the Socialists and Democrats party.
“We agreed on measures that greatly benefit consumers: batteries will be well-functioning, safer and easier to remove.
“These measures could become a benchmark for the entire global battery market.”
