The European Council voted this week on a law on rechargeable batteries for electronic devices, including smartphones. This law obliges brands to facilitate the replacement of the spare part by 2027. The law also imposes new recycling rates for rare materials, such as lithium and nickel.
You can now find rechargeable batteries in many everyday devices. Electronic devices, of course, including smartphones, tablets, portable consoles, smartwatches, laptops, etc. You will also find them in urban mobility: electric cars, electric scooters, electric bicycles, etc. And these are just a few examples. The number of batteries produced each year is considerable. And it is only increasing. According to the European Commission, demand will be multiplied by 14 between 2019 and 2030.
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Producing so many batteries obviously has an impact. This is also one of the main arguments of critics of electric cars: of course, they do not consume hydrocarbons, but creating a battery consumes a lot of resources. Cobalt, nickel, manganese and above all lithium, the exploitation of which dries up certain regions of Latin America, jeopardizing the survival of local populations. Two years ago, we reported in our columns a UN report on the harmful effect of this overproduction.
iPhone batteries should be easy to replace by 2027
For several years, Europe has taken up the problem with several initiatives in favor of the circular economy of electronic devices. Ecosystem, a French organization that collects and recycles them, is a good example. But the European Commission wants to go further by focusing on the main argument that leads consumers to change smartphones: battery. A month ago, we reported that the European Parliament passed a law that requires manufacturers of electronic devices to make the batteries of their products removable.
This week, the European Council confirmed the vote and set a schedule both for the integration of easily replaceable batteries by the user and for the recycling and recovery of waste from batteries. The most important decision is: by 2027, portable batteries embedded in devices must be removable and replaceable by the end user “. This of course includes phone brands, including Apple. Assuming that the iPhone 15 will appear in 2023, the first iPhone with a removable battery will therefore be… iPhone 18 ! It will be the first whose battery will be easy to replace by the user.
Recycling lithium batteries becomes mandatory
The other measures taken by the European Council concern the recycling and recovery of used batteries. Smartphone makers will need to ensure they collect 63% of batteries worn out by 2027 and 73% by 2030. Lithium must be 50% recyclable by 2027 and 80% by the end of 2031. On the other hand, if car batteries and industrial batteries will have to contain recycled materials (lithium, lead, cobalt, nickel), this will not yet be the case for smartphone batteries.
The law passed by the European Council provides a framework. But it is not yet in force. It still needs to be signed by the European Parliament and Council. Then it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force 20 days later.