With the use of electric vehicles set to increase in proportion over the coming years, the government has issued draft rules for the management of batteries. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has come out with a draft paper that lays down the procedure to be followed by the trade while dealing with used batteries.

The basic idea behind these rules will be that there must be accountability and proper records maintained of the waste batteries through the chain. In a typical cycle, the battery retailer on the street would collect the old and worn out battery and sell a new one to the customer. From then on, the government wants that these waste batteries must reach licenced battery recycling units with proper recording of their progress with returns/reports being filed periodically with the respective state pollution control boards. The only exceptions here will be those shipments of batteries that go to the original equipment manufacturers or bulk customers, say distributors and retailers.

The rules, when finalized and passed will be known as the Battery Waste Management Rules 2020.

The ministry has now put out the draft rules and has asked for feedback from the public and the stakeholders. A period of 60 days has been given for this. Once the suggestions are in, there may be discussions internally and then the formal rules notified by the ministry for implementation.

Based on the trend witnessed with the present government, there may be a meeting called to discuss the issued involved with the battery industry representatives, trade bodies and pollution control specialists on the way forward.