Inside EPA recently featured Principal Aaron Goldberg’s (Washington, DC) analysis of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new guidance on the collection and recycling of used lithium-ion batteries in “Lawyer Fears 'Major Outstanding Questions' In EPA’s New Battery Guide.” Aaron first wrote about these developments in a B&D news alert, “New EPA Guidance on Lithium-Ion Batteries Leaves Critical Questions Unanswered.”

The article highlights Aaron’s observations on the new guidance, including its lack of clarity on how certain key rules apply to lithium-ion batteries, products containing such batteries, and battery recycling intermediates such as “black mass,” as well as its shortcomings in facilitating the development of a circular economy for the critical minerals contained in the batteries.

Click here to download a PDF of the article, found on page 16.

For more information about EPA’s guidance document and the applicability of RCRA to lithium-ion batteries, devices containing batteries, black mass, and other battery derivatives, please contact Aaron.

Beveridge & Diamond's Waste and Recycling practice group assists clients in a wide range of industrial sectors with solid and hazardous waste regulatory issues under RCRA, its state counterparts, international treaties, and the laws and regulations of countries around the world. We regularly help clients in classifying their wastes as hazardous or non-hazardous, as well as in determining whether materials are wastes in the first instance and in assessing the potential applicability of regulatory exclusions or exemptions. We have been lead counsel in many cases challenging key portions of EPA’s definition of solid and hazardous wastes under RCRA, and defend companies in related enforcement actions.