Household battery collection points at shops take the small sealed batteries used in torches and phones, but a car battery is treated differently under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009. This guide summarises the regulations, GOV.UK’s retailer and producer guidance (the producer page was last updated on 11 May 2026) and where the rules stop. It concerns the United Kingdom, with one exception noted below, and is general information, not legal advice on a particular battery or business. Household battery take-back is covered in the guide to household batteries.

Three kinds of battery in the regulations

The regulations divide batteries into three groups. A portable battery is sealed, can be hand-carried by an average person without difficulty, and is neither automotive nor industrial. An automotive battery is a battery used for automotive starter, lighting or ignition power. An industrial battery is one designed exclusively for industrial or professional use, used as the power source for propulsion in an electric vehicle, or unsealed and not automotive. GOV.UK says the automotive group is sometimes referred to as starter, lighting and ignition (SLI) batteries.

What shops do not have to do

GOV.UK’s page on retailer and distributor responsibilities says a business that sells or supplies 32kg or more of portable batteries a year must offer free take-back, with a collection point at every premises from which it supplies batteries, including online sellers. It says the take-back covers any sealed battery that can be carried without difficulty by an average person. It states plainly that the retailer does not need to take back car and motorbike batteries or batteries from industrial equipment.

A garage or motor factor is therefore not legally bound by that rule to accept a customer’s old car battery. GOV.UK also says that a business transporting batteries itself, for example to a recycling plant, needs a waste carrier certificate and must follow the law on moving and transferring hazardous waste.

Who must collect waste car batteries

Regulation 36 places the duty on producers of automotive batteries. A producer must collect waste automotive batteries free of charge and within a reasonable time from a final holder of automotive batteries when asked, and must publish how final holders can request collection, in a manner reasonably likely to reach them. GOV.UK’s producer page repeats this and gives examples of final holders: garages, scrapyards, end-of-life vehicle treatment sites and local council waste collection sites.

A producer is a business with a UK presence that is the first in its selling chain, including importers, to make batteries available for supply or sale on the UK market. Producers of automotive batteries must register with the Office for Product Safety and Standards within 28 days of first placing them on the market, and must report total tonnage, chemistry and brand name by 31 March of the following year. GOV.UK says the batteries collected must go to an approved battery treatment operator or approved battery exporter for treatment and recycling.

The ban on landfill and incineration

Regulation 56 says no person may dispose of waste industrial or automotive batteries in a landfill or by incineration, other than residues of batteries that have already been treated and recycled in accordance with the regulations. GOV.UK gives the same message: it is illegal to send waste industrial or vehicle and other automotive batteries for incineration or to landfill. Regulation 1(3) says regulation 56 does not extend to Scotland, so this particular prohibition is not part of the 2009 regulations there.

Putting a car battery in a household bin, a skip or a general rubbish load would run against that prohibition where it applies. The guide to waste collection paperwork explains what to keep when a carrier removes waste.

Industrial and electric vehicle batteries

The industrial group includes batteries used to power an electric vehicle. GOV.UK says industrial battery producers must register with the Office for Product Safety and Standards within 28 days and report tonnage, chemistry and brand by 31 March. They must take back waste industrial batteries free of charge from any end-user if they supplied that user with new batteries, if the batteries are the same chemistry as those they place on the market, or if they cannot be returned to another producer, and they must tell end-users how to return them. The waste batteries must go to an approved battery treatment operator or approved battery exporter.

Practical checks when booking a clearance

For a house or garage clearance, batteries from vehicles, mobility equipment or garden machinery are worth listing separately when asking for a quote, because the regulations treat car and industrial batteries differently from small household ones. A carrier that agrees to take them should be a registered waste carrier, as described in the guide to checking a waste carrier. Lithium-ion batteries have their own fire-risk rules, described in the guide to lithium-ion battery waste.

FAQs

Can I take a car battery to any shop that sells batteries?

Not as of right. GOV.UK says retailers do not need to take back car and motorbike batteries. Some may choose to.

Who pays for a producer to collect waste car batteries?

Regulation 36 says the producer must collect them free of charge from the final holder on request.

Is it illegal to put a car battery in landfill?

Regulation 56 prohibits disposal of waste automotive and industrial batteries in a landfill or by incineration, though it does not extend to Scotland.

The bottom line

The free retailer take-back rule covers small sealed batteries, not car, motorbike or industrial batteries. For waste automotive batteries the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 put the collection duty on producers, free of charge to the final holder, and prohibit landfill or incineration outside Scotland. Batteries should go to authorised treatment routes, not household bins. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

This guide draws on the following primary sources, current as of 25 September 2026:

• GOV.UK, “Battery waste: retailer and distributor responsibilities”
• Environment Agency, “Waste batteries: producer responsibility” (last updated 11 May 2026), GOV.UK
• legislation.gov.uk, “The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, regulation 36: Collection: automotive batteries”
• legislation.gov.uk, “The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, regulation 56: Prohibition on disposing of waste automotive and industrial batteries in a landfill or by incineration”

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