Germany - cost analysis for the monitoring of NiCd batteries in municipal solid waste

Development of a monitoring strategy and assessment of related costs

The Germany EPA has issued a useful small report Cost analysis for the monitoring of NiCd batteries in municipal solid waste - development of a monitoring strategy and assessment of related costs.

The proposal of the European Commission for a Directive on batteries and accumulators intends to establish a collection rate of 80 % for spent portable nickel-cadmium batteries (hereinafter referred to as NiCd-batteries). Pursuant to Article 6, the collection rate shall be monitored by annual determination of the quantities of spent NiCd-batteries in municipal solid waste (MSW) .

The quantities of NiCd-batteries collected separately or sorted out in treatment plants are available from the established battery collection schemes. The quantities disposed of in the municipal solid waste have to be determined by investigation of the waste streams that contain relevant amounts of NiCd-batteries. The objective of the study is to assess the efforts and costs that would be necessary to monitor NiCd-batteries in MSW.

The following work steps must be carried out:


Identification of relevant waste streams, i.e. waste streams containing relevant amounts of NiCd-batteries
Selection of appropriate sampling strategies for the relevant waste streams
Determination of the cost affecting factors of the sampling
Development of a sampling plan for the relevant waste streams
Assessment of the monitoring costs.
A monitoring system has to consider all waste streams that could contain relevant amounts of NiCd-batteries. However, a uniform definition of the term ‘‘municipal solid waste‘‘ does not exist in Germany. The comparison of national statistics and the waste balances of the German Bundesländer reveals differences with regard to the waste types covered by the term MSW: C&D waste, sewage sludge and specific industrial wastes for example are sometimes classified as MSW and sometimes not. According to its origin municipal solid waste can be assigned to ‘‘households‘‘, ‘‘commercial activities‘‘, and ‘‘public areas‘‘ (infrastructural waste).

Comprehensive definitions and delimitations with regard to municipal solid waste are set out in the guidelines for standardised waste analyses of the Bundesländer Brandenburg and Saxony. In the following, waste is classified according to the main categories used in the waste balances of the Länder. For those categories a reliable database is available.

About 2,000 tonnes of NiCd-batteries are either contained in municipal solid waste or temporarily stored in German households and companies. They are assumed to be distributed among different waste streams as follows:


about 1,106 tonnes are assigned to household waste and bulky waste
72 tonnes to lightweight packaging from DSD-collection
280 tonnes in commercial waste
144 tonnes in WEEE (remaining quantity after removal of batteries)
About 55 tonnes are distributed among other waste types
200 tonnes are assumed to be stored in households and companies, or exported.
The sampling of waste bins at the premises and the sampling at waste treatment facilities have proven to be the most suitable sampling approaches. For both methods, the costaffecting parameters were determined. The very low proportion of NiCd-batteries and the heterogeneous mass distribution of particles in the waste stream clearly show the strongest impact on the survey costs.

The sorting and reprocessing steps in waste treatment plants result in a accumulation and homogenisation in the NiCd-relevant output streams of the plants. A higher share of NiCdbatteries and a reduction of particle sizes in the output streams