Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to regulate the safe disposal of lithium-ion batteries.

Existing UK regulations place a number of obligations related to battery disposal on producers of lithium-ion batteries and products containing lithium-ion batteries.

These obligations include the requirement for all batteries sold in the UK to be clearly marked with the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol indicating that they should not be disposed of by throwing them in the bin.

Those selling batteries are required to provide a means to take back waste batteries and producers of industrial batteries (which includes electric vehicle, e-bike and e-scooter batteries) must take back waste batteries free of charge upon request.

This Government is committed to cracking down on waste as we move towards a circular economy where we keep our resources in use for longer and reduce waste. Proposals to consult on reforms to the UK batteries regulations are being reviewed before setting out next steps.