Those three dead AAA batteries sitting next to your keys in the front hall tray?
The D batteries weighing down your dog-walking jacket in hope of illicitly dropping them in the neighbor’s Ridwell box?
You’ve got to hang on to those clacking annoyances a little longer, but there is an end in sight to the disposal of dead batteries that have always been one of the most confounding leftovers in recycling culture.
By October 2028, there will be at least one drop-off site for small batteries within 15 miles of 95% of Colorado residents, according to a law signed recently by Gov. Jared Polis. One permanent collection site or annual community collection event will be held by 2028 for every 30,000 state residents. A year later, by 2029, there must be at least 15 permanent collection sites for so-called medium-format batteries, which include spent power tool rechargeables and e-bike batteries.Supporters hope a collection and reuse system — paid for by a fee battery makers will impose on themselves — will keep more hazardous and flammable materials out of garbage trucks and landfills, while stocking Colorado manufacturers with desirable recycled commodities such as lithium, nickel, steel and lead. The backers are adamant that under the bill, “consumers will not pay at the point of collection.”
The law “helps keep valuable materials in circulation while protecting our communities,” said Rachel Setzke, a senior policy advisor at the nonprofit recycler Eco-Cycle.
The most vocal opposition to the “Battery Stewardship Act” came from existing materials-handling companies like Redwood Materials, which had asked Polis to reconsider signing Senate Bill 163.
Redwood Materials said the act, “while well-intentioned, is a bill aimed at establishing a consumer battery recycling program that relies on a deeply flawed framework that could inadvertently increase fire risks, undermine U.S. battery circularity, and stall the state’s clean energy leadership.”
The company, founded by a cofounder of EV maker Tesla, said the collection laws passed recently by Colorado and other states are overly complex and “lock qualified recyclers out of the collection process, handing control to a single nonprofit entity.”
Colorado can’t afford to let the desires of one focused company dictate the system, Setzke responded. Redwood Materials focuses on recycling the lithium and other valuable parts from spent lithium ion batteries to rework into new EV batteries.
“For this system to work, it has to collect all the batteries, because there are batteries like lithium ion that are very valuable, whereas there’s other batteries that cost a lot more to recycle, and so you need the more- valuable ones to fund the full system,” she said. “It would be similar to saying, OK, we’re going to have a curbside recycling system, but we’re going to take out all the aluminum and valuable cardboard and then leave all the harder, more-expensive-to-recycle plastics to fend for themselves.”
In recent years, Colorado passed a similar bill to promote recycling of cardboard and paper consumer packaging materials. A “producer responsibility organization” is currently working out rules for a statewide curbside recycling effort funded by heavy users of packaging like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Molson Coors and Procter and Gamble.
The battery effort will be overseen by a “battery stewardship organization” and supervised by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Those who step up voluntarily to collect, transport and recycle the collected batteries will be reimbursed by the fees collected by the stewardship organization.
Consumers and city collection agencies have been stymied by battery recycling problems even as curbside single-stream recycling and composting have expanded throughout Colorado. Residents are told not to put dead batteries in single-stream recycling bins as they create fire hazards and hazardous waste issues as they corrode.
Under existing practice, Setzke said, “best case scenario it goes to a landfill, worst case is creating a fire. And when batteries are not properly recycled, we are losing that valuable material. It’s not going back into any batteries.”
Several states are implementing or considering similar producer responsibility laws, Setzke said, but she continues to ask leaders in other states whether they have seen a jump in consumer battery costs attributable to the producers paying the recovery fees. Even the states with battery laws in place for a long time are not reporting price increases from the programs, she said.
Consumers wondering how battery collection will work should think of one word, Setzke said: Paint. Colorado has taken large volumes of potentially toxic paint out of the waste system through one-day dropoff events and collections at paint stores.
“These are going to be collections similar to paint, so at your local hardware store, maybe, or at your local household hazardous waste site,” she said.
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