In The News

California legislation develops statewide battery recycling program

By Megan Smalley

Excerpted from Waste Today Magazine

"California lawmakers passed a pair of bills, Senate Bill 1215 and Assembly Bill 2440, to create a statewide collection and recycling program for consumer batteries and products that contain batteries.

California classifies batteries as hazardous waste and bans them from landfills because of the hazardous metals and corrosive materials they contain. SB 1215, which is authored by California Sen. Josh Newman, expands the state’s existing Electronic Waste Recycling Act to include products containing batteries that cannot be easily removed without household tools. AB 2440 establishes a large extended producer responsibility (EPR) battery program, also helping to eliminate the threat of fires at waste and recycling facilities.

“From talking greeting cards to electronic toothbrushes to smartwatches, even though battery-embedded products are now so thoroughly integrated into our modern lives, there was still no standardized system for the safe and efficient collection and disposal of this class of potentially hazardous waste,” Newman says.

According to a news release from Sen. Newman’s website, SB 1215 helps to curb the number of battery-embedded products that are improperly disposed of so that they no longer pose a danger to the companies and employees charged with managing them.

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Read the full article here