Lead for batteries: 13,000 t Lead for other purposes: 1,000 t
Used-up batteries:
5,000-6,000 t Other lead scrap:
50001,000 t
Recycled per annum: 25,000 t Production per annum: 15,000 t Pb
1,000 t PP Remnant per annum: 5,700 t slag
1,075 t PVC + ebonite 100 t refractory bricks New lead-acid batteries:
24,000 t
Consumption of refined lead:
13,000 t
Usage
Collecting and Storing of Lead
— Acid Batteries. Origin:
• Slovenia
• Hungary
• Croatia Production of New Batteries
Recycling — Mezica Lead Smelter
SLOVENIA
• Decision on Management of Hazardous Municipal Waste (to be issued) aiming at mandatory separate collection of hazardous batteries and accumulators in the municipal sector;
• Decision on Management of Separately Collected Fractions of Municipal Waste (Off. J. RS 21/01) aiming at the mandatory separate collection of other (non-hazardous) types of batteries and accumulators in the municipal sector.
In order to stimulate implementation of the new legislation, an Operational Programme was developed in the year 2000 proposing the following actions, participants and deadlines.
I. Planning (MoE, producers, importers, merchants, trade inspectorate — December 31, 2001)
• Preparation and approval of the operating plan for the implementation of the regulation on batteries and accumulators (both new and old);
• Preparation of programmes to reduce the heavy metal content of produced and import-ed batteries and accumulators;
• Control measures for the proper labelling of hazardous batteries and accumulators;
• Concrete measures to implement new legislation on waste batteries;
• Registration of producers, importers, marketers, collectors, processors and disposers of spent batteries and accumulators;
• The establishment of an information system for spent batteries and accumulators;
• Programme for public information and education.
II. Implementation of the waste battery system (MoE, producers, importers, chamber of com-merce, trade inspectorate — permanent tasks)
• To prepare and implement the programme for battery/accumulator users;
• To control heavy metal content in batteries on the market;
• To undertake research/development programmes for battery producers;
• To run and use the information system;
• To implement proper labelling, separate collection, processing and disposal of spent bat-teries and accumulators;
• To control proper labelling on new hazardous batteries and accumulators;
• To develop a collection system for used batteries and accumulators and control its effectiveness.
III. Reporting (MoE — permanent task)
• To elaborate annual reports on streams of waste batteries and accumulators;
• To study effectiveness and trends and prepare corrective measures;
• To prepare reports for the European Commission.
Battery waste market
The recycling industry, retailers and collectors are very interested in the market for waste batteries, including recycling fees and deposit payments. The stakeholders, namely industry and government, are discussing how to establish such a market since legislation does not include any state incentives for the waste market. There is a proposal to set up a private asso-ciation or a fund that will be formed to prepare the first steps for establishing a waste mar-ket similar to the Austrian Ecoforum. Because of the opposing interests held by retailers and collectors, this will not be an easy task. According to the latest proposals, the Slovenian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry should coordinate the initiation of the market. The scheme, outlined in the operational plan (Figure 3), includes two interlaced collecting lines:
industrial and municipal.
Economic aspects
In contrast to the current situation, the formation of prices for waste lead and waste lead batteries in the 1980s was not ruled by the market but by the “agreement economy.” The price of refined lead and simultaneously lead waste was based on the production cost of the biggest lead smelter in the former Yugoslavia — the Trepca Lead Smelter. Prices were announced in an official journal with little chance of them being changed, average prices were approximately twice the prices of the London Metal Exchange (LME).
Nowadays prices are controlled entirely by the market and correspond to the LME prices.
No state intervention was observed in this sector during the transition period. The system efficiency reflects steady growth, so that a collection rate of about 70 percent for lead-acid accumulators is expected this year.
Costs associated with environmental protection are the largest single cost of the recycling process. Direct environmental costs are represented in waste batteries (51.2 percent) and energy consumption (14 percent). More than half of these costs is consumed by the bag fil-ter and the scrubber. Labour costs represent about 29.8 percent; the rest is comprised of other costs like maintenance, auxiliary chemicals, etc. Indirect costs reflect investments in environmentally sound techniques and procedures (e.g. the construction of a new separa-tion plant, construcsepara-tion of new landfills for hazardous wastes, a desulphurisasepara-tion plant [scrubber] for exhaust gases, and wastewater treatment plants). These costs were about EUR 0.9 million per annum in the last four years.
The lead accumulator recycling company sells two products: refined lead with its alloys, and polypropylene chips. Lead materials account for 97 percent of the entire income, while polypropylene chips are two percent and other sources one percent.
The sale value of recycled lead is calculated from the average daily price of lead on the London Metal Exchange (LME) with the addition of a premium, which is between 10 and 15 percent. The premium depends on:
• The actual prices of refined lead on the LME;
• The average price of battery waste during the previous month on the LME;
• The proportion of sales via barter (in lead) or cash;
• The currency exchange rate between USD/SIT;
• The currency relation between USD/DEM; and
• The company’s cash flow during the last quarter.
The profit-breaking point of a smelter is EUR 500 to 600 per tonne of refined lead on the LME. If the price were lower, the smelter would have to reduce production costs or accept that it would produce at a loss.
Calculating the lead metal price in the recycling company would depend on the ability to pay for raw material (battery waste) in cash or with recycled, refined lead (barter). This means that the company would pay for the conveyed raw material with the percentage of refined lead gained from the same raw material. This percentage depends on the retailer and his negotiation skills and power. The ratio in Slovene lead recycling is 60/40, which means that 60 percent of refined lead goes to the smelter and the rest to the retailer.
Import, export, and transit of hazardous batteries in Slovenia
The biggest problem is connected to Annex VII of the Basel Convention, which lists countries that enjoy the privilege of trading with waste batteries. Slovenia is a non-annex country, which means that Slovenian companies cannot trade with OECD countries in waste lead batteries. Slovenia is discriminated against by other OECD member states. For example, the Slovenian lead smelter in Mezica cannot import waste from neighbouring Austria or Germany, which run their own processing plants, but is allowed to import waste from Croatia and Hungary, which do not have such capacities. In this way the collection and trans-portation costs are much higher than competitors’ costs, e.g. in neighbouring Austria.
FIGURE 3