Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022: covered batteries

Producers must provide more structured, free battery drop-off and recycling services statewide. The law adds recycling-performance, financial-control, reporting, and enforcement requirements.

What the law does ​

• Classifies covered batteries as small or medium format and extends coverage to specified batteries up to 25 pounds and 2,000 watthours.
• Requires stewardship plans to provide free drop-off collection sites under separate statewide minimums for small and medium batteries.
• Requires retailers with five or more California locations to serve as permanent small-format battery collection sites.
• Requires program operators to achieve annual recycling-efficiency rates of 60% for rechargeable batteries and 70% for nonrechargeable and primary batteries.
• Requires stewardship plans to include financial controls, coordination with California Native American tribes, and consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s environmental-justice office.
• Requires annual independent financial audits under Financial Accounting Standards Board standards and public annual reports.
• Authorizes inspections, investigations, and penalties for noncompliance, and requires covered-battery records to be retained for five years.

Who it affects ​

• Battery producers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, recyclers, and stewardship organizations.
• Collection sites, including participating household hazardous-waste facilities.
• Consumers dropping off small or medium covered batteries.

Context ​

Lead-acid batteries, most motor-vehicle batteries, recalled batteries, and specified medical-device and fuel-cell batteries remain excluded.