Bill Text: MI HB6159 | 2025-2026 | 103rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Environmental protection: recycling and waste utilization; recycling of single-use and rechargeable batteries; provide for. Amends 1994 PA 451 (MCL 324.101 - 324.90106) by adding secs. 17121 & 17161 to subpt. 2 pt. 171. TIE BAR WITH: HB 6160'26
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced) 2026-07-14 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 07/03/2026 [HB6159 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2025-HB6159-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL NO. 6159
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
(MCL 324.101 to 324.90106) by adding sections 17121 and 17163 to subpart 2 of part 171.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 17121. As used in this subpart:
(a) "Battery" means a device that consists of 1 or more electrically connected electrochemical cells and is designed to store and deliver electric energy.
(b) "Battery-containing product" means a product sold, offered for sale, or distributed in this state that contains or is packaged with rechargeable or primary batteries that are covered batteries. A battery-containing product does not include a covered electronic device. As used in this subdivision "covered electronic device" means that term as defined in section 17301.
(c) "Battery recycler" means an entity that materially abides by all federal, state, and local permits and is responsible for the end-of-life management of covered batteries, including, but not limited to, the extraction and separation of metals, compounds, or intermediate fractions, and the submission of metals, compounds, or intermediate fractions for further processing, refining, or use in batteries or other industrial supply chains.
(d) "Battery recycling program" means a program that provides end-of-life management of batteries.
(e) "Brand" means a registered or unregistered trademark, a logo, a name, a symbol, a word, an identifier, or a traceable mark that does both of the following:
(i) Identifies a battery or battery-containing product.
(ii) Identifies the owner or licensee of the trademark, logo, name, symbol, word, identifier, or traceable mark as the producer of the battery or battery-containing product.
(f) "Collection rate" means the percentage, by weight, of covered batteries that a stewardship organization collects, calculated by dividing the total weight of covered batteries collected in this state by a stewardship organization in the previous year by the average annual weight of covered batteries estimated by the stewardship organization to have been sold in this state by all producers participating in the stewardship program during the previous 3 calendar years.
(g) "Collection site" means a location where batteries are collected from consumers under this subpart.
(h) "Consumer" means an individual or other person that owns a battery and includes the ultimate purchaser, owner, or lessee of a battery, who is not, as to that battery, the distributor, importer, producer, recycler, retailer, or stewardship organization.
(i) "Covered battery" means, regardless of chemistry, a portable battery, a medium-format battery, a battery sold loose, or a battery easily removable with household tools within a battery-containing product or a motorized device. Covered battery does not include any of the following:
(i) A battery contained within a medical device that is not primarily designed or marketed for sale or resale to a consumer for personal use. As used in this subparagraph, "medical device" means device as that term is defined in 21 USC 321(h) on the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subparagraph.
(ii) A battery that contains an electrolyte as a free liquid.
(iii) A lead acid battery sold by a retailer subject to section 17103 or weighing more than 11 pounds. As used in this subparagraph, "lead acid battery" means that term as defined in section 17101.
(iv) An embedded battery.
(v) A battery that has been recalled for safety reasons.
(vi) A battery, assembled by or for a vehicle manufacturer or franchised dealer, that is designed to power a motor vehicle, a part of a motor vehicle, or a component part of a motor vehicle, including a replacement part for use in a motor vehicle.
(vii) A mercuric oxide battery. As used in this subparagraph, "mercuric oxide battery" means that term as it is defined in section 17101.
(j) "Department" means the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy.
(k) "Director" means the director of the department.
(l) "Embedded battery" means a battery or battery pack contained in a product from which it is not designed to be removed by the user of the product with a commercially available common household tool.
(m) "End-of-life management" means collection, processing, transportation, and recycling.
(n) "Independent producer" means a producer that has not established, alone or together with other producers, a stewardship organization.
(o) "Medium-format battery" means either of the following:
(i) For a rechargeable battery, a battery weighing more than 11 pounds or having a rating of more than 300 watt-hours, or both, but weighing no more than 25 pounds and having a rating of no more than 2,000 watt-hours.
(ii) For a primary battery, a battery weighing more than 4.4 pounds but not more than 25 pounds.
(p) "Member", in reference to a stewardship organization, means the producer or 1 of the producers that established the stewardship organization.
(q) "Performance goal" means a metric proposed in a stewardship plan for achieving a continuous and significant increase in the rate of battery recycling in this state. Performance goals include target collection rates, target recycling efficiency rates by battery recycling programs, and goals for public awareness, convenience, and accessibility.
(r) "Portable battery" means either of the following:
(i) For a rechargeable battery, a battery weighing no more than 11 pounds and having a rating of no more than 300 watt-hours.
(ii) For a primary battery, a battery weighing no more than 4.4 pounds.
(s) "Primary battery" means a battery that is not capable of being recharged.
(t) "Producer", subject to subdivision (u), means a person that sells, offers for sale, or distributes for sale a covered battery or battery-containing product in this state and that is any of the following:
(i) If the covered battery or battery-containing product is sold under a brand of the battery's or product's manufacturer, the person that manufactures the battery or product.
(ii) If the covered battery or battery-containing product is sold under a retail brand or under a brand owned by a person other than the battery's or product's manufacturer, the person that owns the brand.
(iii) If subparagraphs (i) and (ii) do not apply, the person that is the licensee of a brand or trademark under which the covered battery or battery-containing product is sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in or into this state, regardless of whether the trademark is registered in this state.
(iv) If subparagraphs (i) to (iii) do not apply to any person within the United States, the person that is the importer of record for the covered battery or battery-containing product into the United States for the purpose of selling, offering for sale, or distributing for sale the battery or product in or into this state.
(v) If subparagraphs (i) to (iv) do not apply to any person with a commercial presence in this state, the person that first sells, offers for sale, or distributes for sale the covered battery or battery-containing product in this state.
(u) Producer does not include a person that only sells, offers for sale, or distributes for sale a battery-containing product if the battery is supplied by another producer that has designated a stewardship organization to implement a stewardship plan and if the producer certifies this fact in writing to the person that only sells, offers for sale, or distributes for sale the battery-containing product.
(v) "Rechargeable battery" means a battery that contains 1 or more voltaic or galvanic cells and that is designed to be recharged.
(w) "Recycling" means preparing batteries for use in manufacturing processes or for recovery of usable materials and delivering the batteries or materials for use. Recycling does not include any of the following:
(i) Land disposal.
(ii) Incineration.
(iii) Energy generation or fuel production from recyclable materials.
(iv) Reuse, repair, remanufacture, or any other process through which batteries are returned to the batteries' original form or do not go through a manufacturing recovery process.
(y) "Stewardship plan" or "plan" means a plan approved by the department for the establishment and operation of a stewardship program for batteries.
(z) "Stewardship program" means an independent producer's or stewardship organization's program that provides for the safe and proper end-of-life management of batteries in compliance with the independent producer's or stewardship organization's stewardship plan.
Sec. 17163. (1) A stewardship organization or independent producer implementing a stewardship plan may bring a civil action to recover costs, damages, and fees, as specified in this section, against a producer who sells or otherwise makes available in this state covered batteries or battery-containing products not included in a stewardship plan in violation of the requirements of this subpart. An action may be brought against the producer only if the stewardship program incurs costs in this state, including reasonable incremental administrative and program promotional costs, in excess of $1,000.00 to collect, transport, and recycle or otherwise dispose of the covered batteries or battery-containing products of the producer.
(2) A stewardship organization or independent producer may bring a civil action against a producer of a recalled, damaged, or defective battery to recover the costs associated with handling the recalled, damaged, or defective battery.
(3) A stewardship organization or independent producer implementing an approved stewardship plan may bring a civil action against another stewardship organization or independent producer that underperforms on its battery collection obligations under this subpart by failing to collect and provide for the end-of-life management of batteries in an amount roughly equivalent to costs imposed on the plaintiff stewardship organization or independent producer because of the failures of the defendant stewardship organization or independent producer, plus legal fees and expenses.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. ____ (request no. S02690'25) or House Bill No. 6160 (request no. H02690'25) of the 103rd Legislature is enacted into law.
