In a wrap-up to the recently concluded International Congress for Battery Recycling (ICBR), ICM AG says a theme expressed during the event was that many challenges must be resolved as new power storage chemistries and techniques are changing the rapidly developing sector of the recycling industry.
The ICBR 2010 was held Sept. 15-17 in Brussels. ICM AG was the show organizer.
One of the keynote speakers at the event, Michel Catinat, advisor to the European Union’s European Commission’s Economic Directorate, said, “The scarcity of certain raw materials will bring the battery recycling industry into a strategic position.”
The conference brought around 185 delegates from 26 countries to discuss developments in battery recycling. In addition to ICM, a number of other organizations and companies supported the congress.
Speakers updated delegates on new legislation, recycling achievements and new technologies. A point of particular interest at the event was the recycling of lithium-containing storage devices. It was noted that this increasingly popular battery constituent can become highly explosive if certain conditions arise within a battery. Over recent years, several recycling plants have experienced fires that can be attributed to these devices, the ICM AG release notes. During the panel discussion, there was a call for more research into the behavior of old and damaged batteries.
In Western Europe, battery collection rates are increasing as countries implement EU legislation. “We want to have a resource-efficient Europe,” said Soledad Blanco, senior administrator at the European Commission’s Environment Directorate. “We will support the shift towards a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy, decoupling economic growth from resource and energy use.”
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