What you need to do

There are two types of portable batteries producer, large and small. It depends on whether you place more or less than one tonne of portable batteries on the UK market per year.

You are a large producer if you place more than one tonne of portable batteries on the UK market each year. You will have to pay for the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste batteries in proportion to your market share.

You will do this by joining a Battery Compliance Scheme (BCS). The BCS will arrange for the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries on your behalf. It will also register you with the relevant environment agency. You must register with a BCS by 15th October for the following compliance year. If you do not become a producer until after 15th Oct and during any compliance period then you must register with a scheme within 28 days of the date when you first placed batteries on the market.

You are a small producer if you place one tonne or less of portable batteries on the UK market each year. You will not have to pay for the collection and treatment of waste portable batteries but you do still have to register directly with your local environment agency. You must do this by 31st October each year.

Separate regulations mean that producers also have to make sure the batteries you place on the market do not contain too much cadmium or mercury and that they are properly labelled.

From 1st February 2010 distributors of portable batteries will have to take back portable batteries from any member of the public who has some to dispose of (e.g. to provide an in-store ‘battery take-back’ facility such as battery bins).

There is an exemption from this requirement for distributors who sell less than 32 kg of portable batteries each year (this equates to approximately 24 AA batteries a week).

Producers of automotive and industrial batteries must register with the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) which was previously the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. You will also need to record the amount of batteries you place on the market from 2009 onwards.

All producers must keep records in writing for a minimum of 4 years of the amount in tonnes and the chemistry type of all portable batteries it has put on the UK market for the first time during any given compliance period.

Along with the crossed out wheelie bin symbol, any batteries with more than certain amounts of mercury (0.0005% in a button cell), cadmium (0.002%) and lead (0.004%) need to be marked with the appropriate symbol by the producer.

Also, a producer cannot place on the market an appliance into which a battery is or may be incorporated unless that appliance is:

(a) designed in such a way that a waste battery can be readily removed from that appliance;

and

(b) accompanied by instructions showing how the battery can be removed safely and, where appropriate, informing the end user of the type of the incorporated battery (however this does not apply where for safety, performance, medical or data integrity reasons continuity of power supply is necessary and requires a permanent connection between the appliance and the battery.