EPA eyes universal waste rules for lithium batteries and solar panels by 2027

August 2027 is the date the EPA's unified agenda now gives for a final rule that would create distinct universal waste categories for lithium-ion batteries and solar panels — a rulemaking the agency first announced in 2023 and has still not published in draft form. EPA officials told attendees at the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials' annual meeting in Virginia last week that a draft rule remains in the works and could appear sometime this spring for public comment.

"Our focus is getting the rulemaking out as fast as we can within our process," said Kathy Lett, an EPA environmental protection specialist in the agency's RCRA office, during the meeting.

The stakes are material. ASTSWMO estimates only about 5% of lithium batteries in the U.S. are recycled, and lithium-ion batteries already cause numerous MRF and waste facility fires each year.

What does the current regulatory grey area look like?

Relevant battery management regulations were written roughly 30 years ago, before lithium-ion batteries became common. The rules were "mainly designed for lead-acid batteries," said Eric Frederickson, vice president of operations at The Battery Network. "Those provisions are clearly not talking about lithium-ion batteries."

The EPA considers most end-of-life lithium-ion batteries hazardous waste but unofficially allows them to be managed under RCRA's streamlined universal waste rules. That position is not written into RCRA itself; it sits in a 12-page EPA guidance memo issued in 2023. Robin Wiener, president of the Recycled Materials Association, described the guidance as "relevant but nonbinding" — the reason the recycling industry typically seeks permanent regulatory change.

On the ground, handling varies widely. "I see a lot of different ways for how lithium-ion batteries are handled on site. Sometimes they're manually taping the ends. Sometimes they have a specialized collection bucket. The labeling varies," said Kristyn Oldendorf, senior director of public policy at the Solid Waste Association of North America. "Everyone's doing their best to safely handle the batteries... but it doesn't seem like there's really clear regulations on how to do that."

Damaged or broken batteries fall into another grey zone: a breach in an individual cell casing can push a load from universal waste into full hazardous waste management. Storage is ambiguous too. ASTSWMO's battery working group, which supports lithium-ion-specific rules, noted in a July position paper based on a survey of officials in 45 states that universal waste rules lack safety standards for lithium-ion fire risk. The group called for non-combustible storage containers, facility fire-handling rules, and notification requirements for handlers accumulating below the 11,000-pound threshold.

What about solar panels?

Solar panels are generally hazardous waste under RCRA. Panels from commercial, industrial or utility-scale sources must be evaluated for lead and cadmium; above a threshold, they fall under Subtitle C. ASTSWMO says hazardous content can vary panel to panel, even within the same model, which can force testing of every panel — a process meeting participants called time-consuming and frustrating in regions with limited testing resources.

A coalition of power and manufacturing groups petitioned EPA in 2021 for a universal waste standard. Universal waste designation would ease batch testing requirements and extend storage from the current 90- to 180-day hazardous waste limits to one year, letting recyclers aggregate bulk shipments. "A lack of an established recycling market for end-of-life solar panels means that a majority of these materials end up in municipal landfills," SWANA and municipal groups wrote. California and Hawai'i already regulate panels as universal waste, offering examples of a federal standard in practice.

What does this change for critical minerals?

Federal momentum is building. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, introduced the Battery Recycling for America's Competitive Economy Act, which would compel EPA to finalize the lithium-ion universal waste rule within 18 months of passage; it passed the House on Sept. 15. At a July House hearing, she said handlers have "wrestled with a lack of clarity" and that outdated RCRA rules "have made it harder for American recyclers to compete" with China.

Frederickson called lithium-ion batteries an "incredibly rich secondary feedstock source." Batteries managed as hazardous waste risk incineration rather than recycling — at which point "the nickel, the cobalt, the manganese, the copper and the lithium are all removed from the critical material supply chain." Solar panels likewise contain silver, tellurium and indium. As ASTSWMO put it: "Without a clear regulatory framework, industry will not invest in this critical recycling infrastructure."

The spring publication of the draft rule is the milestone that decides what happens next.