European Parliament
Jeffrey Titford (IND/DEM ),
in writing
In the depths of darkest East Anglia, are the good burghers crying out for a directive making it compulsory for batteries to be recycled? No. I suspect that most people haven’t even thought of it and even if they become aware of this latest over-zealous piece of EU legislation, they will place the dud batteries from their transistor radios in the dustbin.
In the preamble to this directive it states: 'It is desirable to harmonise national measures concerning batteries and accumulators'. Who decided it was ‘desirable’? It is certainly an odd expression to use in this context. A woman may be desirable but another dopey set of rules for harmonising the way we deal with batteries and accumulators – I think not.
However, this legislation places the entire financial burden of introducing these new recycling and disposal facilities on the producer. Surely, in a sane world, i.e. one without the EU, when someone buys a product, he becomes responsible for its safe disposal. The 'producer must pay for disposal principle' is a part of the EU mindset.
Stop dreaming up new ways to increase the cost of producing anything. Businesses will not be able to afford to pay these extra costs.

