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Collection volumes and rates of portable batteries in Finland have grown steadily over the past 15 years. They have consistently met the statutory separate collection rate requirement (45 %) Per capita, 355 grams were collected last year—more than a large bag of candy. Converted to AA batteries, this equals 15 batteries per person returned.
Figure 1: In 2024, nearly 2 million kilograms of portable batteries were returned for recycling via the official, producer operated collection system in Finland. The record year was 2021, when the collection exceeded 2 million kilograms.
In recent years, the collection rate, which has risen to around 50 percent, is calculated based on the amount of batteries and accumulators placed on the market over the previous three years. Due to their long lifespan, many batteries may still be in use, so the collection rate does not indicate that the remaining batteries all ended up in mixed waste.
According to an EU-level assessment, about a quarter of batteries that are not separately collected may end up in mixed waste. The rest, according to the study, are still in use, hoarded in households, sent to unofficial collection points, or reused outside of Finland with devices. Particularly lithium-ion batteries are a product group that is increasing in market share and often has a significantly longer lifespan (around 3-10 years) than batteries. The upcoming EU Battery Regulation aims to tighten collection rates and is considering changing the calculation method. See our article for more information.
Registered producers reported placing approximately 3.48 million kilograms of portable batteries on the Finnish market in 2024. This figure has decreased from 3.7 million kg in 2022 and slightly over 4 million kg in 2021. These figures include only producers fulfilling the responsibility requirements and do not include products that have avoided producer responsibility obligations.
Figure 2: Distribution of portable batteries placed on the Finnish market in 2024
The share of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries has steadily increased over the past decade. In 2022, alkaline batteries made up 66 % and lithium-ion batteries 25 %. In 2023, lithium-ion increased to 27 %, with alkaline dropping to 64 %. In 2024, alkaline rose by one percentage point, while lithium-ion’s share remained flat. Lead-based batteries fell from 4 % in 2023 to 2 % in 2024. Other batteries, such as NiMH, lithium primary, and silver-oxide, now make up 6 %, up by one percentage point from 2023 (Figure 2).
Figure 3: Distribution of collected portable batteries in Finland in 2024.
Collected batteries are overwhelmingly alkaline – around 85 % in 2024 (vs. 80 % in 2023), with 1 % lead batteries (down from 7 %) and 7 % lithium-ion batteries (up from 6 %). NiMH, NiCd, and silver-oxide make up the remaining 7 %. The new collection system has over 6 600 registered collection points.
With the new Battery Regulation, specific collection targets will be set for batteries used in light electric vehicles (LMT) for the first time: 51% by 2028 and 61% by 2031.
From collected batteries, an increasing volume of recycled materials is being recovered for new products. Current legislation requires at least 50 % recovery from all collected batteries. Collection targets will significantly increase, and future material specific recycling targets will include: lithium 50 % by 2027 and 80 % by 2031; cobalt, copper, lead and nickel 90 % by 2027 and 95 % by 2031. See our article for more information.
Figure 4: From collected portable batteries in 2024, a total of 890 000 kg of recycled material was recovered.
The statistics on portable batteries presented on this page are based on information compiled by Recser on batteries that have been brought to the markets by manufacturers that have transferred their responsibility to Recser, and collected and recycled by Recser on behalf of these companies. This information is submitted to the authority that monitors producer responsibility, Pirkanmaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY), which puts together nationwide statistics and sends them to the European Commission. The national producer responsibility statistics on all types of batteries can be found here: Recycling Targets and Outcomes – ELY (in Finnish)
The European Commission statistic on the sales and collection of portable batteries can be found at:
Sales and collection of portable batteries and Waste statistics – recycling of batteries.
[1] A portable battery is a non-rechargeable or a rechargeable battery or a battery unit
that is sealed, can be carried manually and is not an industrial or automotive battery. (Government Decree 520/2014, Section 2(1)(4)). Examples of portable batteries include AA and AAA batteries and batteries used in mobile phones, laptops, toys, cordless tools and electric toothbrushes.
[2] Electric transport equipment batteries refer to e.g. batteries of electric bikes, electric mopeds and electric scooters, which under the current legislation are classed as industrial batteries (Government Decree 520/2014, Section 2(1)(7)). Contrary, batteries used for starting up similar equipment are classed as vehicle batteries (Government Decree 520/2014, Section 2(1)(6)). In the national statistics, these batteries are included in the total figures for industrial batteries and vehicle batteries.
[3] SWD(2020) 335 final. COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT: IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT. Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning batteries and waste batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (The Commission’s impact assessment report).