Environmental regulations: their impact on the battery and lead industries

Abstract

This paper presents a general overview of the past and current position of the lead industry in relation to environmental legislation and its impact. The lead industry has watched environmental lead levels being steadily reduced down to levels that, ten years ago, would have been considered unachievable. Nevertheless, the industry has managed to survive the effect of the ever-increasing demands of environmental controls. During the last ten to twenty years, lead producers and users have had to assess their future positions, as the cost implications of environmental laws have had a significant impact on their bottom lines. Without doubt, this consideration most definitely affected the viability of many plants. The need to be aware of the existence of new and proposed legislation is of paramount importance, as the threat from the vast array of EEC legislation is ever apparent. Lead companies have all considered environmental legislation to have no more than a nuisance value, but it is of vital importance to the future of the industry that such legislation is approached in a positive and sensible way in order to demonstrate a full commitment to protecting both employees and the general environment. Lead must receive the credit that it so richly deserves.