The German Environment Agency criticized the amendment to the Electricity Act for no substantial progress and called for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes

The German Environment Agency criticized the amendment to the Electricity Act for no substantial progress and called for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes

The German Environmental Aid Agency (DUH) criticized the new amendment to the Electricity Act for failing to bring about substantial changes, calling for a complete ban on disposable e-cigarettes and requiring each manufacturer to meet a 65% e-waste recycling rate.

According to Presse Portal, the German Environmental Aid Agency (DUH) believes that the newly passed amendment to the Electricity Act has failed to bring about substantial changes.

Barbara Metz, federal executive director of the German Environmental Association (DUH), said,

"With this pseudo-amendment, essentially nothing has changed. The legally required 65% recycling rate for e-waste can still be underestimated without any consequences. The current industry recycling rate allows some manufacturers to hide behind it, and the current recycling rate is only about 30%, which is far below the standard. We require that every manufacturer must meet the stipulated recycling rate. In the future, all sales points will be able to return disposable e-cigarettes, but this is far from enough. As long as there are no incentives for consumers to recycle them in stores, these small electronic devices will ultimately continue to harm the environment. We demand a complete ban on disposable e-cigarettes. At the same time, the reuse situation is completely ignored. Only 1.7% of the collected old devices are reprocessed for reuse. We call for the establishment of mandatory quotas for the reuse of electronic devices, similar to the practice in Spain or Belgium."

In addition, DUH calls for a deposit system for lithium-ion batteries.