MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Commission announced proposals on Thursday to modernize EU legislation on batteries, calling for batteries placed on the EU market to become sustainable, high performing, and safe all along their entire life cycle, reported Chemweek.
Sustainable batteries are key to the goals of the EU Green Deal and contribute to its zero-pollution ambition, since they promote competitive sustainability and are necessary for green transport and clean energy, the Commission says. The battery initiative is the first action to be announced in the new EU circular economy action plan, it says.
The Commission says that batteries should be produced with the lowest possible environmental impact, using materials obtained "in full respect of human rights" as well as social and ecological standards. As a result, it proposes mandatory requirements for all batteries placed on the EU market, including use of responsibly sourced materials with restricted use of hazardous substances, minimum content of recycled materials, carbon footprint, performance and durability, and labeling, as well as meeting collection and recycling targets.
“Batteries are essential for crucial sectors of our economy and society such as mobility, energy, and communications. This future-oriented legislative toolbox will upgrade the sustainability of batteries in each phase of their life cycle. Batteries are full of valuable materials and we want to ensure that no battery is lost to waste. The sustainability of batteries has to grow hand in hand with their increasing numbers on the EU market,” says Virginijus SinkeviAius, EU commissioner with responsibility for environment, oceans, and fisheries.
The Commission proposes to establish requirements and targets on the content of recycled materials as well as collection, treatment, and recycling of batteries at end of life, and make sure that industrial, automotive, or electric vehicle (EV) batteries are not lost to the economy after their useful service life.
It says that the EU's current 45% collection rate for recycling of portable batteries should rise to 65% in 2025 and 70% in 2030 so that the materials of batteries used at home are not lost for the economy. Industrial, automotive, or EV batteries must be collected in full, and all collected batteries should be recycled and high levels of recovery achieved, especially for valuable materials such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and lead, the Commission says.
Providing legal certainty is essential for the development of a more sustainable and competitive battery industry across Europe and around the world, the Commission says.
As MRC wrote previously, The European Commission says it has approved, under EU merger regulation, the proposed acquisition of BASF's worldwide pigments business, BASF Colors & Effects, by DIC Corp. (Tokyo, Japan).
To address the Commission's competition concerns, DIC offered to divest a pigment manufacturing facility operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary Sun Chemical at Bushy Park, South Carolina. The approval is conditional on full compliance with a commitments package offered by DIC, including the Bushy Park divestment, the Commission says.
We remind that German chemicals maker BASF said in early November it had put a project to build a petrochemicals complex in India worth up to USD4 billion on hold due to the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. BASF signed a memorandum of understanding with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Adani Group and Borealis AG in October 2019 to evaluate a collaboration to build the chemical site in Mundra, in India’s Gujarat state.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
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