Collection and separation are the primary activities in establishing a circular economy. The process of collection includes establishing end-of-life product collection points. Depending on regulatory rules, product collection will be facilitated by the manufacturer of the product or the government.
After collection, products are routed to different recovery activities such as re-use, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling, depending on their end state and reverse supply-chain opportunities. Once the products are collected, they are dismantled and separated into particular components and routed to specific recovery activities. The choice of recovery activity depends on a variety of factors such as technical constraints, costs and benefits and quality of end products. A high collection rate is imperative for better recovery.
Legal and regulatory considerations
The following criteria should be considered to improve collection rates of end-of-life products embedded within technology metals:
- UK electric vehicle battery collection targets and mechanisms: there are currently no UK collection targets for industrial batteries. This is expected to change with new and better regulations aimed at targeted critical minerals recovery and more efficient routes to re-use, refurbishment and remanufacture. For example, the new EU battery regulations set specific collection targets for batteries
- Distinction between industrial and consumer products: industrial users are more likely to deal with end-of-life products in a structured fashion; however, the methods of dealing with end-of-life waste may not be geared towards extracting maximum value
- Leasing and servitisation: models are likely to facilitate higher collection rates
More information
References
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning batteries and waste batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) No 2019/1020.