Registration for UK Battery Manufacturers and Importers


Have you registered under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009?

If you are a manufacturer or importer of batteries into the UK or if your products incorporate batteries, then you need to be registered.

Why the Legislation is Needed

Statistics for 2007 indicate that a mere 3% of batteries thrown out by consumers were recycled and the remaining 97% went to landfill. Bearing in mind that most batteries contain heavy metals of one kind or another, such as lead, cadmium or nickel, disposing of them in landfill is wasteful and runs the risk of significant pollution of the soil and water sources.

The aim of the UK Government is to improve recycling rates to at least 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016.

Duties under the Legislation

What you are required to do depends on the volume (or more correctly the weight) of batteries you produce each year:

If you produce less than one tonne, then you only need to register with the National Producer Responsibility Database (otherwise known as the National Waste Packaging Database). Registration started from 15 October 2009 and you have 28 days to comply from when you first start marketing batteries in the UK
If you produce a tonne or more batteries in a year, then you must join a Battery Compliance Scheme and then pay for batteries to be collected, treated and recycled. The amount you pay is determined on the basis of UK market share.


The above arrangements apply to batteries as consumer products. If you are a manufacturer or importer of batteries or accumulators for industrial use or for the automobile industry, for example, then as of the 16 October 2009, you are required to register with the National Producer Responsibility Database

You can view the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 on the UK Government website.