Battery Collection Best Practices Toolkit

Batteries are playing an increasingly large role in our daily lives, and there has been a steady increase in the sale of electronics and batteries of all sizes, from portable speakers to electric vehicles. However, improper disposal of batteries in household trash and recycling bins can lead to fires in waste hauling trucks and processing facilities and prevent the critical minerals in batteries from being recovered and recycled. Guidance around how and where consumers should collect and dispose of end-of-life batteries varies greatly across the United States. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to undertake several initiatives, including development of best practices for collection of batteries to be recycled. EPA tasked ERG with developing a toolkit of battery collection best practices materials that state, Tribal, and local governments can use to create or improve battery collection programs. 

In 2023, ERG began a multi-year project to develop a filterable, web-based battery collection best practices toolkit. ERG coordinated 12 virtual and in-person working sessions to gather feedback from over 5,000 battery industry practitioners—including retailers, manufacturers, collection sites, and recycling processors—to understand the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. ERG synthesized this input to identify priority materials that could help communities implement battery collection programs. Using Drupal (EPA’s content management system), ERG designed and coded the framework for a digital toolkit to house these resources in a centralized location on EPA’s website. Our team of research analysts, battery experts, graphic designers, and editors have been developing toolkit materials, including case studies, tip sheets, “how-to” guides, and more. These materials, which include information on batteries of all sizes and chemistries, highlight battery collection success stories, provide scenario-specific guidance to collection sites, and share links to materials and resources to help ensure safety at collection sites.