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

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the permitted means and locations for the disposal of lithium-ion batteries after they have expired in motor vehicles.

The lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles are classified as “waste industrial batteries” once they can no longer be used in a vehicle. Sometimes they are repurposed for something else, for example, energy storage. Otherwise, they must be sent to an appropriate battery recycling facility — they cannot be disposed of, for example, incinerated or landfilled.

The battery recycling centres in England must be approved and have the right environmental permits from the Environment Agency. You can find a list of these approved facilities online in the Environment Agency’s Public Register Public Registers Online.

Some batteries may be sent to another country for recycling. If so, they must go through an approved exporter. These exporters are also listed in the same Public Register.