Product stewardship is an environmental management approach to ensure that the person who supplies a product is responsible for minimising the potential harm of what they supply. Product stewardship targets the entire lifecycle of a product, from how it is designed and manufactured, to how it is used, disposed of, and recycled. A mandatory product stewardship scheme for batteries will reduce the environmental impact at every stage of a battery’s lifecycle.

The draft Product Lifecycle Responsibility Regulation provides the legal framework for the proposed mandatory NSW product stewardship scheme for end of life batteries. The proposed regulation outlines the product stewardship requirements a brand owner will be required to meet when they supply batteries in NSW.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) consulted with industry, local government, environment groups and the community to ensure the draft regulation meets the community’s expectations for safe management of end of life batteries.

Under the proposed regulation, brand owners who supply batteries into NSW will be required to:

• Be a member of a Product Stewardship Organisation that has an agreement with the NSW EPA
• Notify a Product Stewardship Organisation and keep records on the number and weight of regulated batteries supplied into NSW

The proposed regulation also sets out requirements for a Product Stewardship Organisation, including:

• Preparing and publishing an action plan detailing how they intend to meet requirements in the regulation and their agreement with the NSW EPA
• Keeping records and report quarterly/annually on a range of performance and financial measures
• Product Stewardship Organisations with an agreement with the NSW EPA will also need to comply with that agreement.

To support you to understand the regulatory framework, we have prepared a simplified explanatory document. You can download it here or from the document library.

We want to get your feedback on the proposed regulation and Regulatory Impact Statement, including:

• Proposed requirements for brand owners and Product Stewardship Organisations
• The scope of the proposed action plan a Product Stewardship Organisation is required to prepare
• The proposed implementation timelines.

Please provide your feedback by emailing a written submission to batteries.reform@epa.nsw.gov.au.

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Please note, your feedback may include ‘personal information,' including your name, address, email, internet protocol address and any other personal information contained in your feedback.

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