The rules will bring a number of devices with difficult-to-remove batteries into California’s state electronics recycling program. | Prostock-studio/Shutterstock
California regulators will accept public comments in December on regulations laying the groundwork for adding new battery-containing devices into the state e-scrap program. But those devices will not become covered materials for more than a year.
State lawmakers in 2022 approved Senate Bill 1215, directing the state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle, to incorporate new types of battery-bearing devices into the state program, modernize certain reporting elements and make other small changes.
Under California’s electronics recycling program, approved recycling companies can submit claims to be reimbursed for collecting and processing certain types of devices. Those reimbursement funds come from fees consumers pay on those devices at point of sale. California’s program is the oldest in the country and over the years has steadily expanded the types of devices it covers.
The in-progress expansion will allow recycling companies to be reimbursed for processing a host of new device types. The 2022 legislation defined a covered battery-containing device to be anything that has a battery the user can’t remove “with no more than commonly used household tools.” There are key exceptions, though, including medical devices used in health care settings or prescribed by health care providers, vaping devices or energy storage systems used in power generation. Those will remain as non-covered devices.
CalRecycle is preparing to adopt the first set of regulations required by the law, laying out how companies can apply for reimbursement for the newly covered devices. The agency includes language aimed at “modernizing” the reimbursement process, such as allowing electronic signatures on documents.
The agency will open a seven-day public comment period Dec. 3 on CalRecycle’s website, before the regulations take effect in January.
Manufacturers have until July 2025 to submit lists of their battery-containing products that will be covered or exempt under the new rules. CalRecycle will set the reimbursement rates for battery-bearing devices by October 2025. In January 2026, consumers will begin paying point-of-sale fees on the newly covered devices, and the devices will officially be covered under the program. In April 2026, recycling companies can begin submitting claims for reimbursement for devices collected from January 2026 on.