Portable battery producers responsibilities
What you must do
If you place portable batteries on the UK market, either included with electrical equipment or separately, you must join a battery compliance scheme (BCS) or register directly with either:
- the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)
- the Scottish Environment protection Agency (SEPA).
Battery compliance schemes
If you place more than one tonne of portable batteries per year on the UK market, you must join one of several approved BCSs by 15 October in the year preceding the compliance year. If you do not know by 15 October if you will be placing batteries on the market in the forthcoming compliance year, you must join a compliance scheme within 28 days of when you start placing batteries on the market. BCS act on behalf of producers of portable batteries to meet their collection and recycling obligations. You should consider the services each BCS offers and the associated costs.
You must provide your BCS with the sales data it requires.
A BCS takes responsibility for:
- registering producers on the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD)
- reporting sales data
- publicity and collection
- making sure waste portable batteries are treated and recycled
- reporting recycling data
In Northern Ireland: DAERA: WEEE and batteries compliance scheme
In Scotland: SEPA: Batteries compliance schemes (BCS) information
Small producers of portable batteries
If you place one tonne or less of portable batteries per year on the UK market, you must register directly with your environmental regulator using the NPWD. The NPWD is an integrated system that maintains a register of all types of battery producer - portable, industrial and automotive.
You must register using the NPWD within 28 days of the date when you first place portable batteries on the market. You must provide information about your business and the tonnage and chemistry type of batteries you place on the market.
- NIEA: Information on battery producer responsibilities
- SEPA: Information on battery producer responsibilities
- Environment Agency: National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD) information
Record keeping
All producers must keep written records of the total amount of batteries in tonnes that they place on the market in the UK per year, every year.