Developing Directive/Regulation on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Take-back Scheme for Used Lead-acid Batteries (ULAB) and Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB) Management in Ethiopia

At the start of the project (2021) Ethiopia war one of the fastest growing economies of Africa and home to 115 million people. Increasing road traffic, expansion of mobile phone networks, electrification of rural communities and the demand for reliable backup systems in critical infrastructure led to a rapidity increasing deployment of batteries all over the country. While the use of batteries served multiple development goals, there was concern that current infrastructure and waste management systems could not cope with wastes arising from end-of-life batteries. Concerns were particularly pronounced for batteries deployed in rural off-grid areas where waste management systems are underdeveloped or even absent.

In that context, the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), supported by GIZ EnDev, initiated a policy process to assess and improve the management of waste batteries in Ethiopia. Amongst others, the process aimed at developing a strong legislative instrument and an implementable take-back scheme based on a system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). This project aimed at supporting EPA and other Ethiopian stakeholders in developing such a legislative instrument and to conduct further support guiding implementation.