It is an explosive subject. Literally. Electronic waste is constantly piling up, and many of them explode once in sorting centers or in landfills. The culprit: the battery welded somewhere in their innards and that cannot be extracted manually. A problem that Europe has decided to tackle.
Faced with the mountain of electronic waste that continues to grow, Europe has decided to twist the arms of manufacturers of electronic devices. It must be possible and even easy for a consumer to remove and then replace the battery of electronic products of which he is the owner. That’s the lesser of it.
Obviously, this implies that consumers are rational beings who will change the battery of their gadgets and then carry the corpse to the right place, rather than throwing everything in the trash.
It seems that once again, it takes legislative intervention to bring common sense back into the tech world. It still raises a funny question: what goes through the minds of business leaders when they enter the office? Do you stop being a consumer, or even a human, when you become vice-president?
Apparently, taking the path of least resistance is human nature. We prefer to wonder about the fate of a handful of multimillionaires lost in their luxury submarine rather than wondering how we can help hundreds of penniless migrants to flee war or famine other than in tubs of Fortune.
But that is a subject for another kind of chronicle.
Garbage dumps or gold mines?
What the European Parliament passed on June 14 is a new law on the use, durability and life cycle management of batteries in electronic devices.
The good news: this law could have repercussions right at home. It will soon require manufacturers that “the batteries found in their devices be designed in such a way that they can be easily removed and replaced”. Like in the days of the BlackBerry and the first Samsung phones. This time, even Apple’s iPhone will have to comply.
This change will not happen next year. The European Union will allow manufacturers three and a half years from the time the law officially comes into force to equip their products with batteries that can be easily removed and replaced.
Obviously, the ideal would be for a change to be made as soon as possible. Apple, at least, salvages almost all of the materials from old iPhones that are returned to it.
But that’s not enough. The problem of electronic waste is only increasing. And batteries, especially lithium ion ones, are increasingly present among this waste. It is calculated that by 2030, if nothing is done, the equivalent of two million tonnes of lithium ion batteries will have been sent to landfill worldwide, which represents in gross weight four times the Canada’s lithium reserves.
Are there any mining claims in Quebec that are located directly above landfills? They are gold mines in the making!
An effect to us?
Going back to European law, there is still a gray area that will have to be clarified: it does not clearly indicate which devices are concerned. In its broadest sense, it would be highly desirable for it to cover even the batteries of electric vehicles: cars, bicycles, scooters, etc.
At least it seems understood that phones, laptops, tablets and other such gadgets will have to comply with the new law.
And since, in general, the major brands of electronic products — we think of Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony, in particular — design their products so that they are sold everywhere in the world, we imagine that their future products which will be sold back home, in Canada, will respect European law.
We cross our fingers.
Cells and batteries
In French, we make the distinction between piles and batteries. Batteries are those small, generally cylindrical objects that are used only once and replaced when they run out. Batteries are rechargeable, but are usually soldered to the electronic circuits they power.
It still has to be said: whatever their name, disposable batteries are actually not disposable waste. It must be disposed of properly. Yes, that includes the microbattery inserted into a cheap plastic toy bought on sale at Toys “R” Us for the neighbors daughter’s birthday.
We already know that the little girl in question will probably get tired of her big plastic toy sooner rather than later. Chances are good that it ends up in the trash, or maybe recycling.
In Quebec, dead batteries, like batteries for that matter, must be dropped off at the nearest ecocentre. If we dispose of it badly, we see it in the news, it can cause fires and explosions.
Obviously, if we bought less of these electronic gadgets which are made in China and which are animated by a battery hidden under a kilo of cheap plastic, we would not need a law to remind us that they must not end up in the trash…