CA SB1215
This bill adds battery-embedded products to the current covered electronic device program with CalRecycle. It would create a collection and recycling program to more efficiently and effectively collect used batteries and ensure they don’t wreak havoc on our waste stream.
Key aspects include:
Requiring free and easily accessible collection bins at select retail locations across the state by June 30, 2025.
Accepting loose and product-embedded batteries for all common household battery types, including Li-ion, alkaline, nickel-cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries to avoid consumer confusion.
Requiring the producers of batteries and product-embedded batteries sold in the state to develop, finance, and implement this program in collaboration with CalRecycle to recover and recycle their products.
Overview:
While Li-ion battery reactivity permits storing high energy in small units, that capacity also makes them dangerous when mishandled. When a Li-ion battery is crushed or punctured, it can overheat and even explode, which has caused costly fires for waste streams. These two bills create a collection and recycling program that provides Californians with safe means to dispose these batteries.
The Problem:
Resource Recycling Systems estimates that 75% to 92% of Li-ion batteries are discarded improperly. Moreover, as the result of innovations in manufacturing and packaging, Li-ion batteries have become harder to distinguish from other battery types by the average consumer. In a recent examination of the workflow of a single MRF in California, 11 loose Li-ion batteries were found in the waste stream on average each hour, posing a serious fire risk. According to a 2018 California Product Stewardship Council survey, 20 of the 26 MRFs surveyed experienced at least one fire during the previous two years, 65% of which were attributed to discarded batteries. Forty percent of those batteries were identified as Li-ion.
These fires can be catastrophic. In 2016, a Li-ion battery ignited a fire inside RethinkWaste’s MRF in San Carlos. The resulting blaze forced the facility to close for 90 days and totaled nearly $8.5 million in damages. Since the fire, RethinkWaste has been able to secure full insurance coverage only through a combination of separate policies with seven companies, resulting in seven times the premium costs. If another fire occurs, RethinkWaste may be unable to secure insurance moving forward, and the prohibitive cost of self-insuring may force the facility to close permanently.