Got batteries? Studies show that many people have a desk drawer full of them, not because they have an emotional attachment to them, but because they inherently know they have value and should not be disposed in the trash. It’s time to provide consumers with a convenient way to recycle those batteries and put that valuable resource back into the economic mainstream, creating jobs in the process. Like most used products, batteries should be seen as a commodity and a business opportunity, not a waste.

Rechargeable batteries contain valuable metals such as cadmium, cobalt, iron, lead and nickel, and some states have banned them from disposal. Alkaline batteries are banned from disposal in California and local governments are spending about 10 times the cost of regular municipal solid waste (MSW) to manage them through household hazardous waste (HHW) programs. The California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC), a non-profit organization that promotes extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy for problem waste products, has supported projects and legislation to test collection methods and develop a new producer responsibility program to manage leftover batteries that will impact every battery purchaser and user in California, while serving as a model for other states.

A yearlong pilot project in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County is teaching battery producers how to design a statewide stewardship program. Household batteries are a very costly problem for local governments across California and in most states. When the City of Los Angles passed a resolution in support of EPR in 2008, it stated that batteries collected in the HHW program cost the city $1,000 per ton.
CPSC is the primary grant partner to the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) on a statewide grant from the Department of Resources, Recovery and Recycling (CalRecycle). The six grant objectives are:

1. Assess public attitude, consumer motivation, and consumer knowledge level and understanding of the U-waste disposal ban in the San Gabriel Valley in order to develop an appropriate, viable producer managed and financed system;

2. Test and document financial and publicity value to retailers of providing take-back programs;

3. Build knowledge among community members and others about the benefits of “cradle-to-cradle” producer responsibility by engaging in a public awareness campaign;

4. Develop battery take-back program models based on the data collected. Identify and, leveraging local government networks, engage manufacturers and local retailers in implementation of producer managed and financed programs;

5. Support expanded take-back and assist local governments in amending procurement policies to include EPR for batteries; and

6. Encourage local businesses to become certified as “retail product stewards” to provide battery take-back services.

The Producer Responsibility Solution

How big is the battery problem in California? According to a study conducted almost 10 years ago by California Integrated Waste Management Board (now CalRecycle) and documented in a report titled “Household Universal Waste Generation in California,” more than 500 million batteries (alkalines and rechargeables) were sold each year in the state, and only one-half of one percent are recycled through city and county HHW programs at a cost to ratepayers and taxpayers projected to exceed $31 million per year.

EPR is a policy approach to managing problem waste products such as batteries. It transfers the cost of product waste management to the producers, which ultimately pass those costs on to the consumers. This means disposal costs are no longer born by the general public through increased taxes or garbage rates. The approach is used around the world as a way to stop socializing the costs of expensive waste products while allowing consumers to see the full cost of a product and better determine if it is the right purchase for them.

While some retailers sell a lot of batteries, very few collect them for recycling. Consumers are left with the message, “Don’t throw them in the trash, but good luck finding a place to recycle them.”