Growing in popularity over the past few decades, lithium-ion batteries are used to power a variety of technology items sold in the branded merchandise industry.

However, they can be dangerous, having caused a number of deadly fires in recent years. But most states don’t have laws in place to regulate how these batteries can be safely recycled to prevent injuries.

  • Only California, Illinois, Vermont, Washington and Washington D.C. have active or recently enacted laws mandating the collection of rechargeable batteries for recycling.
  • More than 10 states, including Colorado, Ohio and New York, are considering legislation in 2025, but the vast majority operate with a voluntary collection method.


PPAI Media recently sat down with Marc Boolish, the director of the Rechargeable Battery Association (PRBA), a non-profit that represents rechargeable battery manufacturers, to discuss current legislation and the work the organization is doing. (The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

  • Boolish previously spent 25 years working for Energizer, most recently as director of government affairs.


PPAI Media: Can you give some background on PRBA and the efforts you work toward?

Marc Boolish: We are mostly a U.S.-focused organization, but we’ve inherited parts of Canada, too. We represent the manufacturers, users, transporters, test labs, pretty much anybody in the supply chain or with a general interest in rechargeable batteries.

We do a lot of the work on the regulatory side for extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation, and that dovetails into the safety aspect as well, but it also covers the environmental side of batteries. We’ve created model legislation that we use in the various states and provinces or federal governments. That has gained some traction in a number of states already, where they just essentially adopted the model legislation that we have.

If there was something at the federal level, it’s a number of years off.”

Marc Boolish

Director, Rechargeable Battery Association

PPAI Media: It seems the number of lithium-ion battery-related fires has been on the rise in recent years. Can you explain why that is?

Boolish: Lithium-ion has been gaining in popularity for the last 30 years or so. If you think of your smart watch or wearable devices…things like that, that we use in our daily life, those all were made possible by lithium-ion batteries.

Because there’s more and because of the potential that they have, higher energy density or more power in a similar or smaller container just means you have more potential. Higher energy means higher potential for something like a fire.

PPAI Media: Is federal regulation the end goal?

Boolish: It’s definitely something we’ve talked a lot about. I know the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an active group right now where it’s looking for guidelines for collection and recycling products, which could at some point turn into federal legislation.

That remains to be seen, and we as PRBA are participating in that and are on the steering committee of that group. It’s being talked about, but at this particular time, there hasn’t been anything drafted or put together, so even if there was something at the federal level, it’s a number of years off.

PPAI Media: Could you list some examples of legislation states have adopted pertaining to rechargeable batteries?

Boolish: There is legacy legislation that’s been on the books for 25-30 years dealing with older style lead-based and cadmium-based batteries, which are not very common compared to lithium-ion anymore. Where we are now, the states that are listed here with the colors (picture below) are considering, or are already implementing, some type of all-battery legislation.

PPAI Media: What’s a hot topic you’re looking at in terms of regulation?

Boolish: We’re finding there’s a lot of discussion about easy removability of batteries because there are a large number of devices that have batteries inside of them where the consumer can’t really access the battery. A lot of states are looking at this not from an environmental standpoint, but because loose batteries are things consumers can see and touch, so they might be more inclined to put them in collection containers.

The devices are a separate issue, because the consumer either doesn’t know or doesn’t care or has no access to the battery. A number of the states are focusing on that as another way to make sure that more and more batteries get collected.

PPAI Media: Are these products that contain lithium-ion batteries that aren’t easily accessible to consumers currently included in any legislation?

Boolish: It does, at this time, exclude battery-embedded products. That means a product that has a battery that’s not easily removable by a consumer. Think of an iPhone as an example.

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That becomes a much bigger animal to deal with because batteries by themselves are one thing, but developing an infrastructure that starts dealing with everything from battery operated socks to automobiles, there’s really not an infrastructure to deal with all that on a national or state basis right now.

Washington, Illinois and Vermont, which are three of the four states [that already have existing laws, or have recently passed legislation], do have a study provision on how to deal with embedded batteries. It’s sometime in the 2027 timeframe that the study is due to each one of the state governments.

For questions or suggestions on regulatory or government affairs issues, please contact Rachel Zoch at RachelZ@ppai.org.