Iowa Code
Chapter 455D - WASTE VOLUME REDUCTION AND RECYCLING
Section 455D.10A - Household batteries — heavy metal content and recycling requirements.

455D.10A Household batteries — heavy metal content and recycling requirements.
1. Definitions. As used in this section and in section 455D.10B unless the context otherwise requires:
a. “Button cell battery” means a household battery which resembles a button or coin in size and shape.
b. “Consumer” means a person who purchases household batteries for personal or business use.
c. “Easily removed” means a battery or battery pack which can be removed from a battery-powered product by the consumer, using common household tools.
d. “Household battery” means any type of dry cell battery used by consumers, including but not limited to mercuric oxide, carbon-zinc, zinc air, silver oxide, nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydride, alkaline, lithium, or sealed lead acid batteries.
e. “Institutional generator” means a governmental, commercial, industrial, communications, or medical facility which generates waste mercuric oxide, nickel-cadmium, or sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries.
f. “Rechargeable consumer product” means a product that is primarily powered by a rechargeable battery and is primarily used or purchased to be used for household purposes.
g. “Rechargeable household battery” means a small sealed nickel-cadmium or sealed lead acid battery used for nonvehicular purposes and weighing less than twenty-five pounds, which can be recharged by the consumer and reused.
2. Mercury content limited.
a. A person shall not sell, distribute, or offer for retail sale in this state an alkaline manganese battery that contains more than twenty-five one-thousandths of a percent mercury by weight. A person shall not sell, distribute, or offer for sale at retail in this state an alkaline manganese household battery manufactured on or after January 1, 1996, to which mercury has been added. This paragraph does not apply to alkaline manganese button cell batteries.
b. A person shall not sell, distribute, or offer for retail sale in this state an alkaline manganese button cell battery which contains more than twenty-five milligrams of mercury.
3. Recycling/disposal requirements for household batteries.
a. Beginning July 1, 1996, a system or systems shall be in place to protect the health and safety of Iowans, and the state’s environment, from the toxic components of used household batteries. The system or systems shall include at least one of the following elements:
(1) Elimination or reduction to the extent established by rule of the department, of heavy metals and other toxic components in nickel-cadmium, mercuric oxide, or sealed lead acid household batteries, to ensure protection of public health, safety, and the environment when placed in or disposed of as part of mixed municipal solid waste.
(2) Establishment of a comprehensive recycling program for each type of battery listed in subparagraph (1) that is sold, distributed, or offered for sale in this state. An institutional generator shall provide for the on-site source separation and collection of used mercuric oxide batteries, nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries, and sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries. All participants in the stream of commerce relating to the batteries, which are listed in subparagraph (1) and which are not designated as exempt pursuant to section 455D.10B, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3) or (4), shall, individually or collectively, be responsible for developing and operating a system for collecting and transporting used batteries to the appropriate dry cell battery manufacturer or to a site or facility designated by a manufacturer. Additionally, dry cell battery manufacturers shall be responsible for the recycling of used batteries in an environmentally sound manner.
(3) Provision for collection, transporting, and proper disposal of used household batteries of the types listed in subparagraph (1) which are distributed, sold, or offered for retail sale in the state. For the purposes of this paragraph, “proper disposal” means disposal which complies with all applicable state and federal laws. All participants in the stream of commerce relating to the batteries, which are listed in subparagraph (1) and which are not designated as exempt pursuant to section 455D.10B, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3) or (4), shall, individually or collectively, be responsible for developing and operating a system for collecting and transporting used batteries to the appropriate dry cell battery manufacturer or to a site or facility designated by a manufacturer. Additionally, dry cell battery manufacturers shall be responsible for proper disposal of the used batteries.
b. To meet the recycling and disposal requirements of this subsection, participants in the systems established under this subsection, either individually or collectively, shall do all of the following:
(1) Identify a collection entity, other than a local government collection system, unless the local government agrees otherwise, through which the discarded batteries listed in paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1) shall be returned for collection and recycling or disposal.
(2) Inform each customer of the prohibition of disposal of batteries listed in paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1), and a safe and convenient return process available to the customer for recycling or proper disposal.
c. After July 1, 1996, nickel-cadmium, sealed lead acid, or mercuric oxide household batteries shall not be sold, distributed, or offered for sale in the state, unless a system required by this section is in operation.
d. The department may make recommendations to the commission to include other types of household or rechargeable batteries, not enumerated in paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1), in the requirements of this subsection.
e. This subsection does not apply to batteries subject to regulation under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. §6901 et seq.
4. Rules adopted. The commission shall adopt, upon recommendation of the director, the rules necessary to carry out the provisions of this section pursuant to chapter 17A.
92 Acts, ch 1215, §15; 95 Acts, ch 99, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 151, §1; 2011 Acts, ch 25, §140
Referred to in §455D.10B, 455D.25