If you put (products with) batteries on the Belgian market as a producer or importer, you must comply with the legal take-back obligation. This stems from the European Battery Directive 2006/66/EC and the European Battery Regulation 2020/0353, which have been transposed into federal and regional legislation in Belgium.
Does your company have to comply to the take-back obligation? Here are your obligations:
- Register: with the three regional authorities.
- Declare: which batteries you place on the market.
- Awareness & prevention: regarding the use of batteries.
- Organize collection: ADR-compliant transport by approved collectors.
- Recycle: discarded batteries become new raw materials.
- Demonstrate recycling efficiency: have batteries processed by approved recycling companies.
- Reporting: to the authorities.
You can comply with the take-back obligation legislation in two ways:
- You can submit an individual waste prevention and management plan for approval to the regional authorities and take responsibility for all the above obligations yourself.
- The simpler solution is to join Bebat. Bebat then takes over your obligations and relieves your company (large or small).
For all batteries subject to the environmental contribution, Bebat takes care of:
- the regional registration obligation;
- extensive awareness campaigns and necessary preventive measures;
- collection via more than 24,000 collection points;
- advice on handling batteries at collection points;
- free collection means;
- recycling with proof of recycling efficiency;
- safe transport, storage, and processing;
- reporting to the regional authorities.
There are also batteries for which you pay an administrative contribution rather than an environmental contribution, namely:
- Large batteries > 20 kg
- Lead batteries > 3 kg
- Energy Storage Systems (ESS) > 200 kg (including home batteries).
For these batteries, Bebat provides a tailor-made solution.
The only thing you still need to do as a Bebat participant is to submit your declaration of the batteries you put on the Belgian market via our convenient online platform MyBebat. If you put less than 10,000 batteries per year on the market, this can be done annually. For more than 10,000 batteries per year, you must make a monthly declaration. Read our article about this: Difference between monthly and annual declaration.
Not sure if your company falls under the acceptance obligation? Take the test here!
Take-back obligation for end-sellers of batteries
Do you sell batteries to end-users (consumers or businesses)? You are also required to take back discarded batteries for recycling, without a purchase obligation. This is the 'take-back obligation' for end-sellers of batteries. In other words, every point of sale of batteries must also be a collection point for discarded batteries.
You can comply with this obligation in two ways:
- You can organize a collection system yourself. You then take care of the correct collection, recycling, and reporting to the authorities. You are also responsible for prevention and communication and must comply with all legal standards in this regard.
- The simpler solution is to become a Bebat collection point for free. Bebat then takes over your obligations and relieves your company (large or small).
If you become a collection point at Bebat, we take care of:
- Safe collection containers;
- The collection of your discarded batteries;
- Safe transport of the batteries;
- Correct processing of the batteries;
- Professional advice.
You can register for free as a Bebat collection point at https://my.bebat.be.