Packaging and battery waste: Italy adapts to the new European norms

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The Parliament approved national norms to adapt to the European legislation. New developments about the VIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).

Stricter but simpler norms: in a nutshell, these are the innovations brought forth by the European law approved by the Parliament on the 23rd July 2014 and by the European delegation law enforced on the 2nd July 2014. The first law basically reviews the norms of the Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 (the so-called Environmental Code) about the regulation of packaging materials and waste. The second law integrates the latest European norms concerning batteries, environmental impact assessment and control of chemical substances.

With regard to packaging, the law extends the scope of application of existing regulations to all packaging material marketed in Europe and all waste deriving from it, and it concerns all subjects producing or utilizing packaging material or waste. The admissible recycling operations now include also the organic recycling without energy recovery.

For what concerns batteries, the new norm delegates the Government to transpose the 2013/56/EU directive which forbids the marketing of button cells that contain more than 0,0005% mercury, and portable batteries for wireless electric devices that contain more than 0,002% cadmium. The norm also sets forth the obligation to manufacture devices with easily removable batteries.

The same provision also charges the Government with the reception of further European directives, such as the one that updates work safety norms with the new classification of chemical substances. Another example is the directive that rationalizes the authorisation procedures for the VIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), adding new criteria to be considered, like the impact of demolitions.