SB 1100: Battery EPR bill shorts out

Charged up by the huge costs to local government to properly handle dead batteries and the difficulty in disposing of them legally, supporters of extended producer responsibility urged Senator Corbett to introduce SB 1100. Under the bill, household battery manufacturers would have been required to cover the costs of planning for and implementing the end-of-life management of their products. With the notion of extended producer responsibility widely endorsed globally, California cities and counties are embracing the practice as a way to reduce costs as well as encourage more environmentally benign product design and relieve the burdens on retail stores for costly take-back programs. Intense lobbying from the single-use battery manufacturers and several high tech firms drained the bill's support on the Assembly floor.