🌱 What risks do lithium batteries pose?
Lithium batteries can be found in increasingly more electrical devices. They are sometimes also installed permanently within these devices. During the collection of old electrical devices, lithium batteries can cause fires. When small lithium-ion or lithium-metal batteries are damaged, “an exothermic reaction can occur” which is similar to “a small firework rocket or a New Year’s Eve cracker”. These explosions often start fires in the waste stream. As a result, “damaged or incorrectly disposed batteries lead to plant shutdowns and, if they occur frequently, can lead to disposal bottlenecks”. In Germany, there are up to 30 fires per day in garbage trucks, depots, and at recycling and sorting plants, which are mainly caused by electrical devices – and particularly by the “increase in battery-operated electrical devices”.
🌱 What recycling changes are planned?
The draft amendment to the German Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) was presented on 2 May 2024 and approved by the German Federal Cabinet on 9 October 2024. The amendment aims to make it easier to dispose of vapes and e-cigarettes. It also aims to prevent these from entering the general waste stream and the environment. Under the amendment, vapes and e-cigarettes are to be “disposed of separately when they are no longer needed”. Consumers may return these “to all points of sale where they can be purchased”. Sellers are to provide information to consumers about the return process to raise awareness that vapes and e-cigarettes do not belong in the general waste.
🌱 What changes around fire risks are planned?
According to the German industry association for waste disposal, water and recycling management (BDE), vapes and e-cigarettes end up in almost all waste streams in Germany – but only rarely in the designated waste for electronics. To “reduce the risk of fire caused by incorrectly disposed or damaged lithium batteries”, the German government has set out that, in the future, “consumers should no longer sort electrical devices themselves at recycling centers”. Old electrical devices are only to "be sorted into collection containers by trained personnel at the recycling center". Overall, the industry is not convinced that the safety measures put in place in Germany so far – under the draft amendment to the ElektroG and otherwise – are good enough to address the fire risks and other issues related to vapes and e-cigarettes. They have therefore, amongst others, called for a complete ban on the sale of single-use vapes, a nationwide mandatory battery deposit system, and the creation of a manufacturer-financed fund to distribute the (financial) burdens for fire prevention and protection measures equitably amongst relevant stakeholders in Germany.
Read more about vape recycling in Germany here:
- https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/deutschland/bundesregierung-rueckgabe-elektrogeraete-100.html