Recommendation 109

We recommend that, as part of the upcoming consultation on the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 and the Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008, Defra reviews and strengthens the UK producer responsibility regulations for batteries and EVs to ensure compliance with manufacturer take-back schemes and to make the manufacturer more explicitly responsible for batteries and EVs at end-of-life. Defra should also review options to enhance producer responsibility under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations to encourage more efficient battery design to support recyclability and circularity of EV batteries. Defra should launch a consultation on reviewing and updating the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulations 2003 in tandem to ensure that regulation is coherent. It would be advisable that equivalence with similar EU regulations be maintained.