What is producer responsibility? / Producer responsibility in legislation / Classification of batteries and accumulators / Registering as a producer / Fees / Reporting / Certificate / Labelling / Case Canon / Case GPBM / Case Celltech / FAQ for producers

Battery and accumulator producers take care of the recycling of their products

• Batteries and accumulators fall under producer responsibility, meaning that their producer, i.e. importer or manufacturer, is responsible for arranging their recycling.

• A small fraction of the price of every battery placed on the market by a registered producer is used to pay a recycling fee for organising the separate collection and recycling of discarded batteries and accumulators.

• Does your company import or manufacture batteries, accumulators or devices containing them for the Finnish market? If your answer is yes, register as a producer here and make sure that your products are recycled as required by the law.

• See the case examples for registered producers’ views on the recycling of batteries and accumulators. How can the producer responsibility be seen in their operations?

Producer responsibility is a statutory obligation

Producers, i.e. importers and manufacturers, of batteries and accumulators are obligated to arrange the waste management of their products at their own expense when the products are discarded. In practice, arranging the waste management of portable batteries and accumulators means arranging their pick-up from all store locations that sell batteries and accumulators, as well as other collection points in Finland, and their processing thereafter, the goal of which is to recycle the materials. In practice, the easiest way to take care of producer responsibility matters is to do it though a producer organisation that sees that producer obligations are fulfilled everywhere in Finland.

The producer responsibility is based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle. This means that the producer of waste is also responsible for the costs of recycling said waste. In practice, the producer transfers the costs of arranging the waste management in the price of the battery or accumulator all the way to the end user. The end user gets to return a discarded product free of charge to the collection system set up by the producers.

You can check the register to make sure that all obligations are fulfilled

Every producer is registered so that its agreement partners can easily check that its obligations are fulfilled. If a company neglects its producer responsibilities, the authorities can impose a non-conformity fee that is determined by the company’s turnover, up to €500,000. The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) of Pirkanmaa acts as the national authority, except in Åland.

In addition to batteries and accumulators, the producer responsibility covers electric and electronic devices, cars, tyres, paper and packages in Finland. You can read more about other producer responsibilities on ELY Centre’s website.

Read more:

•  Producer responsibility in legislation
•  Register as a producer
•  Producer certificate
•  What fees does the producer responsibility entail?
•  Reporting periods and system
•  Labelling and requirements for batteries and accumulators
•  Case: How does Canon handle its producer responsibility?
•  Case: To GPBM, the producer responsibility is a natural part of everyday operations
•  Case Celltech: As the accumulator industry grows, the value of recycling keeps increasing