Manufacturers or importers of rechargeable batteries and button cells should be responsible for collecting discarded batteries and cells, according to a technical policy on the control of discarded batteries.

The policy, jointly designed by the State Environmental Protection Administration and four ministries, states that manufacturers or importers should build facilities to collect all rechargeable batteries and button cells.

However, it is still unknown when such a practice will be made compulsory for battery manufacturers and importers, said Yang Tiesheng, an official with the environment and resources department under the State Development and Planning Commission.

The pollution caused by discarded batteries, which contains hazardous heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, has long been a public concern because such pollution usually leads to a high content of heavy metals in local water and soil.

But Wang Qi, head of the Research Institute for Solid Waste Control under the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said people should not get into a panic in this case.

"What we need to pay special attention to are rechargeable batteries, button cells and storage cells," he said.

He suggested that people only need to collect exhausted disposable batteries, such as zinc-manganese batteries which are commonly used, together with their other daily waste.

The overwhelmingly adopted landfilling for treating daily waste is effective enough for preventing such discarded batteries from causing great damage to the environment, he said.

He added that the amount of mercury in zinc-manganese batteries in the Chinese market now is less than 0.025 per cent of the total mass of the batteries themselves, which is a national standard for low mercury content.

According to Luo Yi, vice-head of the Science and Technology Department under the State Environmental Protection Administration, the technical policy is a guide for the classification, collection, transport, storage and treatment of discarded batteries.

The policy lists discarded batteries with high mercury content, discarded cadmium-nickel batteries and discarded storage batteries as hazardous waste that must be treated by strict measures.

Wang said about 31 hazardous waste treatment centers are being planned to be established across the country.

Currently there are only five centers in the country, he added.

According to Wang, China now consumes about 8 billion batteries a year and produces 300,000 to 400,000 tons of discarded batteries annually.

(China Daily November 28, 2003)