Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001428/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (S&D), Lídia Pereira (PPE)
Improving electric vehicle battery recycling in the EU is crucial to enhancing the Union’s autonomy and resilience in critical raw materials. Valorising black mass, which contains valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, is strategically important for the EU economy, particularly for the battery, defence and circular economy sectors. However, it is concerning that, at present, exporting black mass to non-EU countries is often easier than transporting it within the EU. This is due, in part, to a lack of harmonisation of regulations across Europe, and sometimes even within the same country, which makes it difficult to move black mass within the EU. The Commission’s recent decision to classify black mass from batteries as hazardous waste is a step in the right direction, as it will help to prevent easy exports to non-EU countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), yet currently a large share of black mass is exported to South Korea, which is an OECD country.
What steps does the Commission plan to take to further harmonise rules on the transportation of black mass within the EU, to increase black mass retention in the EU and to improve the economic model for recycling black mass within the EU?
Submitted: 8.4.2025