Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Responsible Battery Recycling Act today as part of a larger climate action package. Together, SB 1215 and AB 2440 will create a statewide collection and recycling program for consumer batteries and products that contain batteries. The signing of these bills mark the culmination of many years of effort to address battery waste.
California classifies batteries as hazardous waste and bans them from solid waste landfills because of the hazardous metals and corrosive materials that batteries contain. When improperly discarded, batteries pose serious fire, health and safety hazards that disrupt the state’s waste stream and poison the environment. …
“Few people know that batteries are actually hazardous waste and those of us who do have containers of used batteries we don’t know what to do with. This means the majority of batteries end up in curbside waste bins, causing damage to our recycling facilities which ultimately requires rate payers to pay more on our utility bills,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), author of AB 2440.