Committee reviews language to standardize battery stewardship collection rules and reporting date

Legislative analyst Daniel Tartikoff reviewed language changes to LD 474, a bill to establish a stewardship program for primary and rechargeable batteries. The language combines separate collection-system standards for portable, medium-format and damaged or defective batteries into a single combined collection standard and now requires at least one permanent collection site within a 15-mile radius for at least 95 percent of residents.

Tartikoff said the department suggested standardizing those requirements among the categories after stakeholder feedback. "So now, the collection system requirements under this proposal for portable batteries, medium format batteries, and damage or defective batteries, are all the same," he said.

The amendment also allows a stewardship operator to decline additional collection sites for events only with prior approval from the department, a change the department requested to allow additional collection opportunities where sensible. For medium-format and damaged batteries, sites can meet either the state's household hazardous-waste requirements or a medium-format battery standard the department will define by rule; Carla Hopkins, director of the Division of Materials Management at DEP, said that battery-only collection is a "lower bar" than a full household hazardous-waste site but that rulemaking will include notifying the state fire marshal so fire safety is addressed.

Tartikoff said reporting requirements were adjusted at stakeholder request from March 1 to a May 1 reporting deadline in the calendar year after program implementation. He also noted that the stewardship program would fund the cost to participate as a collection site: "Cost to participate as a collection site under the bill would be paid for by the stewardship program, which is set up by the manufacturers," Tartikoff said.

The committee treated this as a language review; members asked technical questions about standards and fire safety and did not take a final vote on this language during the session. The department indicated rulemaking and coordination with the state fire marshal would follow to ensure collection-site safety.