MassDEP advisory commission approves battery stewardship recommendation to send toward legislature

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Product Stewardship Advisory Commission voted to approve an amended recommendation on battery stewardship and directed staff to prepare and circulate a draft product report to the committee for movement toward the legislature.

Commission members debated whether the recommended statutory definitions would be sufficiently future-proof to capture evolving battery chemistries. A staff explanation at the meeting noted the recommended definitions are keyed to size (megawatt-hour), which the presenter said should capture new chemistries even as battery technologies change. "For…