The Ontario government is pushing back a plan to increase diversion rates for batteries this year, giving the battery manufacturers, who now oversee the program, an extra year to reach a target to recycle 50 per cent of the batteries purchased in the province.
The province is also combining recycling targets for single-use and rechargeable batteries into one category, which could hinder the development of recycling streams for small, hard to recycle batteries as producers look to heavier batteries that are easier to recycle to meet targets, which are measured by weight.
“It’s a question of, ‘Are you actually pushing and driving more materials to be recycled?’ ” said Peter Hargreave, an environmental consultant, of the move to combine targets for recycling streams. “I think the concern is that as we water these regulations down, the type of progress we want to see potentially isn’t going to happen,” he said.
Hargreave believes the changes were made because of pressure from producers — the companies that make and sell waste-generating products — who became responsible for the collection and recycling of batteries, as well as the associated costs, in 2020. So-called producer responsibility has also been extended to other items such as tires, and in 2023, to municipal Blue Box programs.
Since producer responsibility came into effect in Ontario, data from the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), the regulator that oversees the province’s recycling and diversion laws, shows that battery producers are falling far short of recycling targets.
Only 12 per cent of single-use batteries and 13 per cent of rechargeable batteries were recycled in 2022, short of the 40 per cent target, according to an interim inspection by RPRA. A final report on battery recycling for 2022 by RPRA is expected later this year.
In 2020, the province had a 47 per cent diversion rate for single-use batteries, according to Stewardship Ontario, which used to oversee recycling for producers. Rechargeable-battery recycling wasn’t measured under that system.
New producer responsibility organizations, or PROs, took over the management of waste diversion for companies manufacturing, or using batteries in their products, in 2020.
Other jurisdictions have been more successful at introducing tougher recycling laws for batteries, such as the EU, which has enacted a number of recycling regulations in anticipation of a dramatic increase in the demand for batteries due to electric vehicle use in the next five years.
The EU has a 50 per cent recycling target for waste batteries that has to be met by the end of this year. It will also require that portable devices such as smartphones and laptops have replaceable batteries by 2027, and that lithium-ion batteries have mandatory minimums for recycled content for metals such as lithium and cobalt starting in 2031.
Ontario has delayed the target to recycle 50 per cent of batteries sold to 2026.
The changes, which are amendments to the province’s Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, were announced in December following public consultations in September and October.
Companies such as Panasonic Canada weighed in during the public consultations held by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
The company said that having to meet targets for two types of batteries “impedes our ability to accelerate collection in both categories.
“This is another example of added complexity that adds unnecessary costs to the system and ultimately the consumers,” according to a written statement by company president Hitoshi Narawa. “The fact that Ontario is so expensive only hinders efforts to collect more batteries, as we need to spend an inordinate amount of time, management and funds to collect batteries.”
The ministry said in an email that it combined the recycling targets for primary and rechargeable batteries “to reduce burden while maintaining a similar level of recycling at the following targets — 45 per cent for 2025 and 50 per cent for 2026 and beyond,” based on stakeholder feedback. Despite the combined target, the regulations continue to require separate reporting on the two categories, according to the ministry.
“The amendment is meant to reflect what is feasible to achieve today while encouraging producers to continue to improve the overall collection and management of batteries,” according to the ministry’s email.
Critics say the changes will do more than just reduce the regulatory burden for producers.
Battery recycler Terrapure Environmental believes delaying recycling targets could “disincentivize producers and (producer responsibility organizations) from improving their current recovery rates,” according to comments submitted by the company during the consultations.
Terrapure is Canada’s largest recycler of lead batteries under five kilograms, which have high recovery rates because recycled lead is cheaper than mined lead, meaning there’s a high incentive to recycle lead batteries.
But the company believes aggressive recovery targets are needed “to promote increased efforts to collect and recycle batteries of all types, particularly primary and non-lead rechargeable batteries,” said Greg Jones, the company’s managing director, communications and public affairs, in an email.
Call2Recycle, one of Canada’s biggest producer responsibility organizations, said in an email that it is committed to “maximizing diversion rates regardless of category and according to the regulations in place.” The not-for-profit organization oversees the collection and recycling of single-use and rechargeable batteries under five kilograms for a number of companies.
Call2Recycle has a network of more than 3,000 drop-off locations in Ontario and more than 12,000 nationally that include many retailers, a network that relies on consumers dropping off their used batteries, which the organization said it emphasizes in advertising and public education campaigns.
If the rate of battery diversion in the province doesn’t increase, experts say more rechargeable lithium-ion batteries could end up in the waste stream and pose a significant safety concern.
“These types of batteries present serious risk of fire when improperly disposed of,” said Donato Ardellini, the founder and CEO of Environmental 360 Solutions, in an email to the Star. “This change will increase the safety risks being faced by waste-disposal businesses like those we operate.”
The province has an interim goal to divert 80 per cent of all waste by 2050, but the transition to producer responsibility — with the thinking that products will become more recyclable if producers have to pay to divert them from landfill — hasn’t been smooth sailing.
There has been pushback from producers not only with regards to battery recycling but for other programs as well, including a proposed bottle-deposit program for non-alcoholic containers, with expense often cited as the reason.
And Environmental 360, which also recycles tires, alleges the RPRA isn’t doing its job when it comes to ensuring producers are meeting recycling targets for tires.
The company has asked for a judicial review of the authority as well as a judicial review of the minister of environment, conservation and parks, with a request to have an outside administrator take over the RPRA and enforce both “collection and management requirements for tires and batteries under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016,” according to emails sent by the company to the Star.
The resource authority said in an email that it looks forward to addressing the company’s “misguided application” and that “none of E360S’ legal manoeuvrings will distract us from continuing to enforce the legal requirements set out in Ontario’s regulatory framework for recycling as it has been doing since the framework came into force.
“RPRA is proud of its progressive, risk-based compliance framework that supports regulatory outcomes for the province.”
