EPR commission weighs PRBA battery stewardship model amid mounting fire‑safety concerns

The Extended Producer Responsibility Commission met to consider an industry model for a producer‑funded battery stewardship program and to hear safety and implementation issues raised by state staff, the fire marshal and industry stakeholders.

Commissioners heard a PRBA presentation describing a model bill for small‑ and medium‑format batteries (portable lithium‑ion, e‑bike packs and similar consumer batteries), municipal data on current collection activity and a detailed fire‑safety briefing from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. No final action was taken; commissioners instructed staff to capture the comments, solicit written input and return with a refined recommendation at future meetings.

The topic matters because discarded lithium‑ion batteries are increasingly linked to fires at recycling, transfer and disposal facilities, raising immediate public‑safety and municipal‑cost concerns while industry and state officials seek a workable collection and recycling system.

PRBA model and state oversight

Mark Bulish, executive director of the Rechargeable Battery Association (PRBA), presented a roughly 20‑page model bill that the trade group describes as a “true EPR” (producer financed) approach. Key elements Bulish summarized were: state review of stewardship plans and annual reports; a stewardship organization to handle billing and collection logistics for hundreds of producers; no point‑of‑sale fee to consumers under the model; limited antitrust protection for producers to coordinate on program design; and a private‑right‑of‑action to pursue large nonpaying producers if the state does not enforce.

Bulish said the model excludes a set of products or situations from the covered scope: large‑format automotive and stationary storage…