The Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 26-003 on May 14, which would create the first extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework in the United States to set specific recovery rate targets for electric vehicle (EV) propulsion batteries.
The bill expands Colorado’s existing Battery Stewardship Act, established under SB 25-163, to cover batteries in electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid vehicles. The 2025 legislation established EPR for portable and medium-format batteries.
SB 26-003 closes the gap on the largest and most hazardous battery stream. It places responsibility for end-of-life management squarely on automakers and propulsion battery manufacturers, requiring them to collect unwanted batteries from secondary handlers, including dismantlers and solid waste facilities, at no cost to those parties.
A landfill disposal ban would take effect July 1, 2029. That same date also triggers labeling requirements and the start of secondary handler obligations under the law.
Battery recyclers would face minimum critical mineral recovery targets beginning in 2031. These are 90% for cobalt and nickel and 50% for lithium. The lithium threshold increases to 80% by 2035. Recovery is calculated using a mass balance approach at the facility level.
The bill is now on Gov. Jared Polis’s desk, with a signing deadline of June 12.
The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) applauded the bill’s advancement, saying the law “provides Colorado with a durable framework that addresses the growing risks associated with stranded electric and hybrid-electric vehicle batteries entering the state’s reuse and recycling infrastructure.”
Emil Nusbaum, ARA vice president of strategy, government and regulatory affairs, said the bill addresses pressure that is already building on the ground. Approximately 330,000 vehicles reach end-of-life in Colorado annually, and automotive recycling facilities process the majority of them.
“SB26-003 positions Colorado to address emerging battery management challenges that are already putting pressure on vehicle recycling infrastructure,” Nusbaum said, in a statement. “We are proud to have worked alongside the General Assembly and industry stakeholders to deliver a solution that is practical, market-driven and built on infrastructure that has served Coloradans for over a century.”
Western Resource Advocates, one of the bill’s lead architects alongside the Union of Concerned Scientists, noted that SB 26-003 was shaped by a broad coalition that included auto manufacturers, vehicle scrappers, waste haulers and battery recyclers.
“The EVs of tomorrow can be and should be powered by the batteries and critical minerals of today,” Western Resource Advocates said in a statement.
