1.    Background on Public Accessibility

One of the key requirements of Canadian Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations is for Stewardship Programs to provide for reasonable and free consumer access to collection facilities or collection services.    

The CBA’s Accessibility Framework describe in this document applies for lead batteries that are purchased by the public at a retail store.  Commercial and industrial batteries are 15% of the overall market for lead batteries and are managed through a similar recycling system; however, there is more responsibility on a commercial business or institution to partner with their lead battery distributor to manage lead batteries at end of life with similar collection outcomes. 

Lead batteries are a common retail consumer product, and the average community will generate about 5kg/person/year.  However, because lead is toxic and a bio-cumulative neurotoxin there is a desire to provide consumers with a high level of access to prevent lead from entering landfills or the environment.

Determining reasonable accessibility for a public service is not just a challenge for the CBA and other Stewardship Programs in Canada.  Public service agencies such as hospitals, law enforcement and other government agencies grapple with the reality of Canada’s geographic size and population distribution when providing adequate services in a cost-effective manner. 

The purpose of this document is to establish a policy framework for the Canadian Battery Association (CBA) to help determine “reasonable levels” of accessibility for lead batteries in Canada and then measure accessibility on a Province-by-Province basis using the policy framework to improve accessibility for communities that fall below their Accessibility Target.

To guide the development of the CBA’s Public Accessibility Framework, the CBA developed the following principles that were used to help formulate and quantify “reasonable accessibility.”

2.    CBA’s Principles of Public Accessibility

Principle #1: Consumer’s Property Rights and Obligations:

Consumers that purchase lead batteries have property rights as well as property obligations.  One obligation is the consumer’s responsibility to properly dispose of the lead battery.  Failure of a consumer to exercise proper disposal of a lead battery is littering and the lead battery would remain the property of the consumer until such time that they dispose of the battery properly as required by law.

Principle #2: Canada’s Environmental Laws: 

Each Province has it own environmental Act and each Act has three important elements that relate to the stewardship of lead batteries.  Provincial legislation:

• requires the person in control of the product to dispose of the product in an appropriate location – see Principle #1.
• assigns the management of municipal solid waste) to Local Governments and   
• defines municipal solid waste broadly to include all “wastes” including end-of-life stewarded products.

In addition, most Provinces and Territories will have Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations that requires Producers to carry out a variety of requirements including the requirement for “reasonable and free consumer access to collection facilities or collection services”, 

Neither the Act nor the EPR regulations transfer the management responsibility for Stewarded Products from Local Government to Producers.  Instead, the EPR regulations extend the management responsibilities for end-of-life Stewarded Products to Producers – hence the use of the term Extended Producer Responsibility Regulation. 

Principle #3: The Service Density Reality:  

Communities that have a high population density have high levels of access to recycling amenities and transportation infrastructure.  In contrast, small rural communities are less likely to be near recycling amenities or transportation infrastructure.  As a result:

• consumers in small rural communities will have reduced accessibility to recycling amenities
• the cost of delivering services to small rural communities is higher on a per capita basis and
• consumers in the more populated area subsidize the cost of recycling amenities in the small rural communities.

 Principle #4: Product Characteristics:

Every product category is different and as such “reasonable accessibility” will vary from product category to product category depending on the characteristics of the products including frequency of use, durability, and hazardousness. 

For lead batteries, commercial and industrial (IC&I) applications are different than lead batteries used by the public and for that reason they have a similar collection system but would not use the collection system used for the public.

Because lead batteries are a common product in a community and they contain lead that is toxic bio-cumulative neurotoxin, they inherently require higher levels of accessibility.   

Principle #5: Canada’s Geography and Population Distribution: 

Of the 38M residents in Canada, between 10 to 15% of the population live outside population centres and do not have ready access to retail or recycling amenities. 

From a Geographical perspective is it reasonable to expect a higher degree of access to recycling amenities in proportion to the ability to purchase the product.

The challenge for the CBA is to develop accessibility options for these rural and remote areas in partnership with the local governments and First Nations. 

3.    Roles and Responsibilities

Based on the above principles, the roles and responsibilities for the end-of-life management of lead batteries is shared across various responsible parties through a product’s life cycle as indicated by the matrix below. 

Based on the above roles and responsibilities, the consumer that wants to dispose of a lead battery decides when the product is at “End-of-Life” and has an obligation to properly dispose of the product by taking the lead battery to a designated recycling location in the community. 

In contrast, the responsibilities of a resident for their municipal solid waste are the same as the consumer – the resident needs to drop off their waste at a designated location and for Local Governments to provide reasonable access for residents to dispose of municipal solid waste.

Because the retail consumer and the resident are the same person, this comparison means that the Canadian Battery Association and Local Governments have a common “customer” and need to work together to provide programs for residents and consumers that:

1. Promotes diversion of lead batteries from landfills through education and awareness.
2. Establishes convenient collection service for lead batteries and municipal solid waste; and,
3. delivers reasonable accessibility in smaller and remote communities.

4.    Accessibility Framework for Lead Batteries

To quantify reasonableness, the CBA Accessibility Framework needs to set Accessibility Targets for lead batteries for communities of different size and proximity to recycling infrastructure.

 The key factors that can affect a program’s Accessibility Targets are the:

• classification of Communities based on the proximity to recycling amenities
• the types of service providers that can collect, store and transport lead batteries
• program’s maturity (e.g., new program vs mature program)

The CBA’s Accessibility Targets are a proxy for “reasonable accessibility” for that community.  Communities that are within their Accessibility Target will be deemed to have “reasonable accessibility” and the CBA’s program for a Province or Territory will be evaluated on the collection service provided to the Percent of Population Served to the Accessibility Targets.

The CBA’s Accessibility Framework does not apply to lead-acid batteries that are used for commercial purposes or located in Remote Locations.  The framework only applies to residents and retail consumers that need to dispose of lead batteries in defined communities.  Contact the CBA for more information about the CBA’s programs for remote locations.

4.1      Classification of Communities

Communities of different population densities will have different “proximity” to recycling amenities and consequently will have different Accessibility Targets. 

To guide the classification of communities, Statistics Canada developed a program to measure the proximity of services to residents.  At the conclusion of their research, Statistics Canada classified communities into three categories based on their proximity to service amenities – in the case of lead batteries, the service amenity is a designated return collection facility (RCF) for the consumer. 

“Amenity dense” communities have significant amenities available to the residents and consumers.  For lead batteries, an “amenity dense” community is defined as having a return-to-retail option for the consumer.

“Amenity sparse” communities will have some recycling amenities usually peripheral to the community.  For lead batteries, an “amenity sparse” community is defined as not have a retailer but would have a metal recycler or local government transfer station or landfill peripheral to the community.

“Amenity scarce” communities have no recycling amenities.  For lead batteries, these communities are defined by their lack of proximity to retailers, metal recyclers or local government services and consumers are required to travel to a different community with a designated recycling location.

Remote communities are a special type of Amenity Scarce community where special collection and transportation arrangements need to be developed for lead batteries.

4.2      Collection Service Providers

The collection services for lead batteries will be conducted primarily by retailers of lead batteries using a return-to-retail model and reverse-distribution collection network used by the distributors of lead batteries. 

Distributors drop off new lead batteries at their retail customers and pick up the unwanted lead batteries for repair or recycling as part of the reverse distribution.  For a summary of retailers that accept lead batteries from the public, go to www.recyclemybattery.ca .

The CBA has established an Amenity Hierarchy for Amenity Dense and Amenity Sparce communities – see table below.  The first Amenity priority for lead batteries is a return-to-retail location because it provides the greatest accessibility to the consumer, and the reverse distribution network between retailers and distributors is the most cost-effective method of collecting lead batteries. 

Where a return-to-retail option is not available in a community, the next two priorities are the private automotive and metal recyclers and local government eco-depots at landfills and transfer stations.  Collection services provided by recyclers and local governments require more property and zoning bylaws will place their locations on the outskirts of a community.  Hence these service providers by their nature will have greater travel times and will provide less accessibility to consumers.