DEATH FROM RECYCLED BATTERY…11

· Continued from yesterday

Regulators should put an end to improper recycling of lead acid batteries

From the activities of illegal miners which is commonplace across Nigeria to battery recycling, poisoning by lead is becoming a serious health issue. The short-term effects of lead poisoning include acute fever, convulsion, loss of consciousness, and blindness, while the long-term effects include anaemia, renal failure, and brain damage in children, who are often the main victims. Some of them are left with severe handicaps in the form of paralysis while others are afflicted with severe mental retardation and other health disorders. But as the New York Times report reveals, something urgent needs to be done on battery recycling in Nigeria.

Under the NESREA Protocol, recyclers are to conduct annual environmental impact audits on surrounding communities, undertake lead blood testing for residents within five-kilometre radius and establish grievance mechanisms for community complaints. By signing the Protocol, recycling facilities in the country are expected to transition to cleaner recycling technologies within 24-36 months, phase out improvised furnaces and rudimentary systems, and participate in pilot projects for slag reuse for bricks and cement raw materials. 

We understand that NESREA is working with the Ogun State Ministry of Environment and other stakeholders to conclude arrangements for the removal of the slags from the Ogijo community in the next few weeks. “We found out that the slag, which is the residue/waste from their recycling processes were dumped indiscriminately within the community,” NESREA said, regarding facilities that carry out recycling of Used Lead Acid Batteries in Ogijo in a crude manner that poses risk to the health of residents and their environment. Along the battery value chain, there are producers, recyclers, and collectors.

To promote proper recycling in the battery sector, NESREA is implementing the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme to encourage environmentally sound management of used lead acid batteries, among other objectives. The EPR Programme vests the responsibility of the life cycle management on the producer who is expected to retrieve it from the environment at its end of life for reuse or recycling. There is also a producer responsibility organisation (PRO) for the sector and all operators and stakeholders in the value chain are mandated to register with the PRO, in this case, the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling (ARBR). The ARBR manages the value chain, and keep track of the activities.

The ARBR is a not-for-profit organisation approved by the Federal Ministry of Justice and registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission as Limited by Guarantee. It operates under the National Environmental (Electrical/Electronic Sector) Regulations, 2011 and the National Environmental (Sanitation and Waste Control) Regulations, 2009. It also operates with the Basel Convention Guidelines under the Federal Ministry of Environment, and in collaboration with the Basel Convention Coordination Centre for Africa (BCCC-Africa).

But we believe that NESREA can do more to implement and enforce its regulations through inspections, permitting, compliance monitoring, sanctions and continuous stakeholder engagement. Agencies that deal with environmental issues should also be made to collaborate with NESREA to ensure that such facilities adopt clean recycling methods. Proper recycling removes lead and acid from the environment and protects public health. It also reduces the pressure on mining by returning recovered lead into the supply chain. It supports jobs in the formal recycling sector, and strengthens industry compliance and increases investor confidence. It also ensures that used batteries do not enter the informal market where unsafe handling/recycling practices thrive.

 If we are to put an end to avoidable deaths in the sector, improper recycling of lead acid batteries must be discouraged with the full provisions of the law. The New York Times report must be taken by authorities in the country as another wake-up call.