Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the Government plans to ensure that the environmental effects of vehicle battery manufacture, use and disposal are minimised; and if he will he make a statement.

There are already a number of requirements applying to automotive battery manufacture, use and disposal. These include obligations under:

The Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008

The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009

The End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003

The End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005

There are controls on the materials used in battery manufacture and measures designed to maximise the recycling of automotive batteries, which are banned from disposal to landfill. Producers of automotive batteries must collect waste automotive batteries free of charge from final holders, on request, and batteries must be treated at appropriately permitted facilities.