Eleven states have enacted extended producer responsibility (EPR) battery laws in the last five years, four of them in the first quarter of 2026. Most still provide exemptions for products with built-in batteries, such as vapes and toys, that keep sparking fires at recycling facilities, according to policy staff at the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI).
Since California overhauled its battery program in 2022, other states enacting battery EPR laws include: Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. New Jersey’s covers only electric vehicle batteries, and Kentucky’s is voluntary for producers. Vermont, New York and Colorado have also expanded existing laws in that time.
Darla Arians, PSI’s director of policy and programs, and Hanz Atia, a senior policy associate, said Oct. 1 that the next round of battery EPR work must close the embedded-battery gap and build better fire data to justify it.
“The problem isn’t solved,” Arians told RCon attendees, noting that most hands in the room went up when attendees were asked whether their facility had a fire in the last 30 days.
Uncounted
Atia said waste and recycling facilities see more than 5,000 fires per year, with the vast majority attributed to lithium batteries. Batteries are crushed and punctured in collection trucks, compactors and sort lines, which can trigger thermal runaway, according to a National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) and Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) fire risk report.
An earlier RRS study at the South Bay Waste Management Authority’s MRF in California counted up to 5.48 lithium-ion batteries per hour on the sort line – more than 1,000 over five weeks. Atia said counts have risen drastically since.
The financial toll as a result of these fires is climbing. Atia said catastrophic losses average $22 million. The NWRA and RRS report found the rate of catastrophic losses rose 41% over five years. Property insurance premiums and deductibles have followed, and some insurers are limiting coverage.
Even those figures understate the problem, she said. There is no national fire dataset, and many fires are never reported.
An operator in the audience said larger facilities in his network probably see one fire a week. On a line moving 20 to 40 tons per hour, a fire can spread before staff spot it and shut down the belt, he said, and the evidence is usually destroyed by the time the fire is extinguished.
Arians said she saw the shift firsthand. Before joining PSI, she managed a MRF in Colorado, where fires became more prevalent in 2013 and 2014. Working with fire departments to trace the source, she found it was discarded electronic devices and batteries.
“I knew that we had to do something more than educate our residents and train our sorting staff,” she said. That led her to EPR.
Four new laws
Atia said 18 battery EPR bills were introduced across 15 states in 2026. Three of those states introduced a bill for the first time.
Within just one week in April, of those, several became law: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the 2025 Act 170 on April 2; Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed LD 474 on April 3; and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed HB 4144 on April 7.
Most of the bills use the same model language, Atia said. It defines covered batteries by weight and watt-hours, sets recycling efficiency targets and establishes a producer hierarchy so that a brand owner or importer pays if a manufacturer can’t be found.
The model also sets a baseline convenience standard of one permanent collection site within 15 miles of 95% of a state’s residents. Programs must be producer funded from collection through processing, reimburse local governments for collection site costs, and cover damaged and defective batteries.
Kentucky is the outlier. Gov. Andy Beshear signed SB 49 on April 10. Atia said it lifts nearly the entire model bill but inserts the word “voluntary” throughout. Producers may submit plans for state approval, but participation isn’t required.
“It is the same language, just with that one additional word,” Atia said. “It really changes what it is able to do.” PSI submitted recommendations to remove the word.
A local government attendee from Lexington said the law still bans residents from putting covered batteries in curbside, front-load and roll-off containers, creating obligations for local programs without a mandatory producer-funded system to back them.
Arians said PSI’s position is “no ban without a plan.”
The embedded-battery gap
Atia said the central unresolved issue is battery-containing products, especially those with non-removable batteries. They include vapes, toys, toothbrushes and even shoes and clothing.
Maine is the only state of the four in 2026 to phase them in, with embedded batteries covered starting in 2030. Laws in Washington, Vermont and Illinois require studies on adding them.
Arians said embedded products are exempt everywhere else.
“That is an amendment that needs to be made to these battery EPR bills, and we need the data to prove that it’s still a problem,” she said.
Atia also noted recalled batteries. Damaged and defective batteries are covered, but recalled batteries are explicitly excluded, even though many of the damaged batteries arriving at household hazardous waste facilities have been recalled.
PSI recommends including them. Some bills let a producer responsibility organization (PRO) take action against manufacturers that don’t pay for recalled batteries.
Eco-modulated fees are not required in any of this year’s 18 bills, she said, though some laws permit them.
Vapes and EV batteries
Vapes drew repeated questions. Maine passed the first vape-specific EPR law this spring, LD 1519, which has not yet taken effect. PSI is also running vape collection pilots in three states, including Missouri.
Atia said states can handle vapes through a standalone law or by covering embedded batteries in a broader battery bill. “There’s pros and cons to both,” she said.
Arians said state and federal hazardous waste rules make collection difficult for schools that confiscate devices, haulers and recyclers.
On EV batteries, Arians said Colorado amended its battery stewardship law this year with SB26-003, which adds EV propulsion batteries. Arians said PSI is also participating in Hawaii’s EV battery recycling and reuse working group.
The Hawaii State Energy Office and Department of Health convened that group under Act 209 of 2025, and the group will dissolve June 30, 2027. A draft bill from the group would create an EV battery recovery program built on EPR.
EPA framework awaits review
Kimberly Cochran, manager of the Waste Measurement and Circular Economy Branch at the US EPA, said the agency published a report to Congress on battery collection best practices in April, as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
A national battery EPR framework, also required under that law, is technically complete but still moving through review at the White House Office of Management and Budget, Cochran said. She did not give a release date.
EPA is also developing voluntary battery labeling guidelines. Cochran said there will not be an EPA label. Instead, the guidance is intended to consolidate competing standards so consumers recognize just one mark.
The next round of legislation depends on data. Atia urged local governments and operators to compile fire information from haulers, HHW facilities and fire departments.
Arians said operators worried about liability can report anonymously through industry working groups, including those run by PSI and SWANA. Those numbers, she said, provide “a justification for what goes in the law.”
