FG Places N2m Fine On Indiscriminate Battery Disposal

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has announced N2 million as a penalty for organisations that run foul of the national environmental (battery control) regulations recently launched in Abuja.

“For individual offenders, it is N200,000 and N5,000 for every day the offence subsists and, in some cases, imprisonment for a certain term, i.e. 6 months or both fine and imprisonment,” assistant director (legal) at NESREA Abiye Whyte said yesterday at a stakeholders’ engagement programme on the regulations.
The regulations aim to prevent and minimise pollution and waste from used batteries in the Nigerian environment. The regulations cover new and used batteries and the lifecycle of a battery from cradle to cradle in implementing a circular economy.

The director general of NESREA, Dr Innocent Bariate Barikor, said batteries cause excessive environmental hazards. Most people are either ignorant of the health implications of battery contents or defiant to preventive guidelines for proper disposal.

The DG said the battery regulation is a comprehensive and all-encompassing environmental tool for all sector stakeholders to promote environmental sustainability in Nigeria. He believes the regulation will tackle the challenges of informal recyclers and unregulated battery collection, recycling and disposal practices.

The new rule “seeks to formalise the battery recycling sector, promote safe disposal methods, minimise environmental pollution and promote the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme for the battery sector in Nigeria,” he stated.

The new regulation states that a person who stores used batteries shall carry out their activities in line with extant laws, guidelines, and standards as prescribed in the schedules to these regulations; a person involved in battery storage shall register with the Producer Responsibility Organisation and obtain a registration certificate from the agency.

“But regulation alone is not enough,” says the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling executive secretary, Mrs Miranda Amachree. She said effective compliance with the regulations and monitoring depends on the active participation and cooperation of all stakeholders, including industry leaders, civil society organisations, government agencies, and the public.

She said it was essential to create the necessary networks, partnerships, and collaborations to sensitize stakeholders and promote compliance with the provisions of the regulations.

“We are aware that batteries contain both valuable and hazardous materials, but while harnessing the value, hazardous waste is discharged to pollute our environment and workers’ health if not properly managed,” Amachree stated.

Many health issues are attributed to exposure to lead and other heavy metals, such as cadmium and mercury, in waste batteries. Heavy metal exposure has been linked to a range of health effects, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease (CVD), renal dysfunction, and carcinogenesis. Lead exposure is known to cause anaemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioural effects of lead are believed to be irreversible.