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►TOYS
►REGULATIONS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Mercury-Containing
and Rechargeable
The
Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act (Public Law 104-142)
became law on
The law is
comprised of the following two titles:
Title I
- Rechargeable
This title
includes provisions that:
·
Prohibit the sale for use in the United States of a regulated battery or
a rechargeable consumer product that is ready for retail sale if this battery
was manufactured on or within one year of the enactment of this law (i.e.,
before May 13, 1997), unless specific labeling requirements are met and the
battery is (1) easily removable from the product or is (2) sold separately.
·
Authorize the EPA Administrator, after determining that other rechargeable
batteries having electrode chemistries different from regulated batteries are
toxic and may cause substantial harm to human health and the environment, to
promulgate requirements for (1) labeling and (2) easy removability of regulated
batteries from rechargeable consumer products designed to contain such
batteries.
·
Provide exemptions from the requirements of this Act in certain
circumstances.
An
article in the Hazardous Technical Information Services (HTIS) Bulletin,
(March/April 1997), discusses another provision of this title:
. . . The Rechargeable Battery Act, as it is
being called, imposes the Universal Waste Rule requirements on the collection,
storage, or transportation of used rechargeable batteries whether or not your
State has set its own regulations governing the disposition of rechargeable
batteries. How and why did this happen? Recall that the Universal Waste Rule
removed the 40 CFR 261.6 exemption (from hazardous waste regulation) for
batteries being regenerated. The Rule went on to subject facilities handling
these batteries to Part 273 of the Universal Waste Rule (small and large
quantity universal waste higher standards). However many states have been slow
(or have no intention) to adopt the Universal Waste Rule or have adopted their
own rules regarding rechargeable battery recycling. . . . As stated in the Act,
". . . the collection, storage, or transportation of used rechargeable
batteries. . . shall, notwithstanding, any law of a State or political
subdivision thereof governing such collection, storage, or transportation, be
regulated under applicable provisions of the regulations by the Environmental
Protection Agency at 60
Fed. Reg. 25492 [
In its
Semiannual Agenda (November 29, 1996; 61 FR 63182), EPA announced plans to
issue a direct final rule to codify into the Code
of Federal Regulations certain provisions of Title I of the
Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act that impact the May
11, 1995, Universal Waste Rule (60 FR 25492). To date, this direct final rule
has not been published.
Title II
- Mercury-Containing
The purpose of
this title is to phase out the use of batteries containing mercury. It
prohibits the sale, offer for sale, or offer for promotional purpose of any of
the following: (1) alkaline-manganese batteries containing mercury, (2)
zinc-carbon batteries containing mercury, (3) button cell mercuric-oxide
batteries, or (4) other mercuric-oxide batteries unless specified conditions
are met. This title also allows the EPA Administrator to grant an exemption to
a person who may petition to allow a new use for a battery technology or the
use of such a battery in a new product if reasonable safeguards exist to ensure
that the resulting battery or product will not be disposed of in an
incinerator, composting facility, or landfill (other than a facility regulated
under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act).
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