How is California Doing with Recycling Rechargeable Batteries?

Many, if not most, portable electronic devices use rechargeable batteries and millions of rechargeable batteries are sold in California each year. California no longer allows batteries to be disposed of in the trash because they contain toxic metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel. These metals may harm people or the environment if they are released.

In 2005, to help promote proper disposal of rechargeable batteries by the public, the Governor signed the California Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act, which requires retailers to have a mechanism to accept all rechargeable batteries from consumers for recycling. To track how effective this program is, the law requires DTSC to survey battery handling and/or recycling facilities and post on its Web site, by July 1 of each year, the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable batteries returned for recycling in California during the previous calendar year.

DTSC worked with California battery recyclers to estimate how many rechargeable batteries, by type (e.g., nickel-cadmium, nickel metal hydride, etc.), were handled in 2007. We learned that in 2007, over 4.2 million pounds of rechargeable batteries were collected from consumers for recycling.

• More than 1,300,000 pounds of nickel cadmium batteries
• More than 300,000 pounds of lithium ion batteries
• More than 400,000 pounds of nickel metal hydride batteries
• More than 2,200,000 pounds of small lead acid batteries

DTSC arrived at these estimates from data voluntarily submitted to DTSC by the major battery recyclers in California. DTSC thanks the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), Kinsbursky Brothers, Inc., Battery Solutions, Inc., and The Big Green Box for their assistance.

Data Limitations

It is difficult to give accurate estimates of the amount of rechargeable batteries collected for recycling in California due to the following reasons:

• Some battery handlers and recyclers do not track the state from which batteries are collected; 
• Batteries contained within electronic devices that are recycled (e.g., cell phones and laptop computers) are not counted separately but may represent a significant portion of the total quantity;
• There may be duplicate data as some battery handlers collect batteries from other collection points (we have attempted to mitigate this problem by gathering our data from major battery handlers who often collect batteries from smaller collection centers);
• California law does not require battery handlers or recyclers to report the number or weight of batteries collected for recycling.