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Brazil Adopts New Battery Rules
By Keith R | September 12, 2008
Topics: Electronic/Electrical Equipment, Environmental Protection, Hazardous Substances, Waste & Recycling | No Comments »
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Brazil’s National Environment Council (CONAMA) just replaced the country’s groundbreaking 1999 rules on the environmental management of batteries and piles (pilhas) with even tougher ones.
Manufacturers should take note, since legislators and regulators in other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations will. The original rules served as a reference point for many LAC policymakers, particularly since it was one of the few such rules outside of the OECD nations or China and for many years the only ones in LAC (Argentina and Paraguay have since adopted legislation). Any reforms that the Brazilians felt needed to be made will be studied by their neighbors.
The 1999 CONAMA binding Resolution was also referenced directly by several state and municipal laws in Brazil. These must now be amended, and opening them to amendment may just re-open debate at the state and local level about what to do about end-of-life batteries and piles. Furthermore, some states delayed adopting the implementing regulations for their own battery laws and state waste policy laws in part to see what CONAMA would do on this issue (CONAMA has been debating the changes since 2003). These states may proceed to issue their implementing decrees now that CONAMA has acted.
What Kinds of Batteries/Piles Does It Cover?
The short answer is basically all of them, in one way or another.
Article 1 of the Resolution says that it covers “all portable batteries and piles sold on national territory” with regards to limits on lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), and as well for “the adequate environmental management of lead-acid, car and industrial batteries, and batteries and piles of nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and mercury oxide (HgO) electro-chemical systems” related to Chapters 85.06 and 85.07 of the Common Nomenclature of MERCOSUR (Nomenclatura Común del Mercosur – NCM).
The definitions in Article 2 make it clear that this includes button batteries, button battery stacks and miniature piles (defined as any pile with a diameter or height smaller than an AAA – LR03/R03), as defined by existing technical norms [I presume this means Brazilian Standards Association (ABNT) norms].
Article 5 of the Resolution says that all batteries/piles not covered by the Resolution’s specific provisions have to have selective collection programs for them all in a form shared by manufacturers, importers, distributors, vendors and public authorities.
Article 20 says that where the battery or pile is not removable, a product containing them has to follow the Resolution’s rules on collection and “environmentally adequate destination” (see below for how this is defined).
Registration Required
Manufacturers and importers of all products covered by Article 1 have to register in the Federal Technical Registry of Potentially Polluting Activities (CTF). [Note: This has been a requirement anyway since 2002.]
Testing Required
- Under Article 3, manufacturers and importers of batteries/piles covered by Article 1 have to present the national environment enforcement agency, IBAMA, with a report of the chemical composition issued by laboratory accredited by the national technical standards institute, INMETRO.
- Article 17 says that IBAMA, “based on proven and reasoned facts, may request, following its own criteria, sample lots of batteries, of any kind, produced or imported for marketing in the country” for proof of compliance with the heavy metal limits (see below) utilizing labs that are a signatory of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation accords. The costs of such tests are the obligation of the manufacturer or importer.
- Article 21 empowers IBAMA to adopt “complementary procedures” regarding testing.
Heavy Metal Limits Changed
The Resolution replaces the limits in Resolution 257 in the following manner:
zinc-manganese and alkaline batteries and piles
- Cadmium: 0.002% by weight for all piles and accumulators with such chemistries, whether primary or secondary (vs. 0.015% before)
- Lead: 0.1% by weight (vs. 0.2% before) for all batteries, piles and accumulators with such chemistries
- Mercury: for all zinc-manganese and alkaline piles and accumulators, whether primary or secondary: 0.0005% by weight (vs. 0.01% before). For all zinc-manganese and alkaline batteries, button piles or battery of button piles: 2% by weight (previously limited to 25 mg).
lead-acid batteries:
- Mercury: 0.005% by weight.
- Cadmium: 0.01% by weight
If the aforementioned tests prove that a battery or pile has levels above these limits, the manufacturer or importer would be subject to “penalties foreseen in legislation.” [I interpret this to refer to the Environmental Crimes Law, whose penalties were just stiffened by President Lula in a new implementing decree issued in July.]
Also, Article 17 says that if IBAMA finds that extra samples it demanded do not meet heavy metal limits, all batteries/piles in that lot must be retrieved from the market by the manufacturer or importer.
Waste Management Plans Required
Under Article 3, all national manufacturers and importers of batteries/piles covered by Article 1 must present IBAMA with a waste management plan. For importers submission of this plan will be a prerequisite for receiving an import license.
What constitutes an adequate waste management plan? Article 2 defines such a plan as an “environmentally adequate set of procedures for the discard, segregation, collection, transport, receipt, storage, handling, recycling, reuse, treatment or final disposal.” Article 3 says that the plan should consider how batteries/piles that are received or collected can be adequately handled and stored in a segregated fashion, until the “environmentally adequate destination” (see below for how this defined), “obeying pertinent environmental and public health norms.”
Take-Back for Certain Batteries
Under Article 4, establishments that sell batteries/piles covered by Article 1, as well as the technical assistance networks authorized by manufacturers and importers, have to received from “users” used and “unserviceable” batteries and piles, including those of other brands, for passing on to manufacturers or importers.
Selective Collection Required for Others
Under Article 5, batteries and piles not covered by Article 1 are to be the subject of a selective collection program implemented jointly by manufacturers, importers, distributors, vendors and public authorities.
“Environmentally Adequate Destination”
Throughout the Resolution — particularly in discussions of the waste plans and of producer responsibility — it refers to giving batteries and piles an “environmentally adequate destination.” Articles 7 and 8 make the “environmentally adequate destination” of zinc-manganese and alkaline and lead-acid batteries and piles the responsibility of the respective manufacturer or importer, and the Resolution extends this responsibility to manufacturers and importers of products that contain such batteries in a non-removable fashion.
But what exactly does “environmentally adequate destination” mean?
It is defined in Article 2 as “one that minimizes risk to the environment and adopts technical procedures for the collection, receipt, reuse, recycling, treatment or final disposal in accord with existing environmental law.” Note that the definition does not allow for incineration or “thermal destruction.”
Labeling and Advertising
Under Article 18, the packaging and publicity materials of lead-acid and Ni-Cd batteries/piles manufactured in Brazil or imported must carry, in clear and visible fashion, certain symbols found in Annex I to the Resolution. They all must bear one of the three versions of the crossed-out wheely trash bin (see at right), indicating that these batteries and piles should not be thrown into ordinary trash.
If the batteries are covered by a recycling program, they should bear one of the three chasing arrow symbols
Under Article 22, lead-acid, Ni-Cd and HgO batteries must have on the body of the battery:
- Identification of the manufacturer or manufacturer/importer in clear and legible form, in Portuguese, and not via a removable label;
- A warning about risks to human health and the environment;
- The necessity that, after use, these batteries should be returned to resellers or the authorized technical assistance network of the manufacturer or importer.
Noncompliance with the labeling provisions by importers will stop shipments while still in customs.
Material Substitution Studies
Under Article 19, manufacturers and importers of batteries and piles covered by the Resolution must conduct studies on substituting or further reducing “potentially hazardous toxic substances” contained in their batteries/piles.
Environmental Education Campaigns
The manufacturers, importers, distributors and vendors of lead-acid, mercury oxide, zinc-manganese and alkaline batteries and piles are “to be given incentive”, in cooperation and public authorities and “civil society” (a phrase meaning nongovernmental organizations – NGOs) to promote environmental education campaigns about post-consumer responsibility.
Discretionary Powers of Environmental Authorities
Under Article 21, IBAMA “or the competent environmental organ” (which leaves open for state environment agencies to act) would be able to adopt “complementary procedures” for the control, enforcement, physical-chemical testing and analysis “necessary for the verification of compliance” with the resolution.
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