Ohio Requires Lead Battery Recycling Now
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing a new state law requiring all used lead acid batteries to be recycled. Battery disposal will be prohibited at solid or hazardous waste disposal facilities. Lead acid batteries are found in motor vehicles, motorcycles, wheelchairs, boats, or other motorized sources.
The law requires any person who generates a lead acid battery to recycle it. They can be delivered by individuals to a retailer, wholesaler, secondary lead smelter, automotive repair business, a household hazardous waste collection event, or a recycling entity that accepts lead acid batteries.
In addition, the new law requires retailers and wholesalers of lead acid batteries to take back spent consumer lead acid batteries for recycling. Retailers and wholesalers must display signs explaining recycling requirements to consumers. It also requires establishments to ensure that spent lead acid batteries received from consumers are delivered to a recycling facility.
The law exempts batteries used in consumer products like computers, electronic games, telephones, radios and similar electronics. Ohio joins a growing list of states and at least one municipality that have adopted mandatory battery recycling requirements in recent years.
For information, visit http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dhwm/pdf/LeadAcidBatteryGuidance.pdf.