NSW battery rules: common questions

Last verified 2026-10-05

Short answers, with the detail on the main rules page and the page for businesses. None of this is legal advice.

Have the rules started?

Not yet. The regulation starts on the day the Act behind it is brought into force. It was set to start on 1 October 2026 only if the Act had started by then, and it hadn’t. When we checked on 5 October 2026, none of the Act had commenced and no start date had been published.

Do I have to do anything differently at home?

No. The duties fall on battery brand owners and on the organisation that will run the scheme, not on the people who use the batteries. Keep taping the terminals and taking used batteries to a collection point, never the kerbside bin.

Are power banks covered?

Yes, portable power banks weighing 5 kg or less.

Are AA and AAA batteries covered?

Yes. The regulation lists AAA, AA, C, D, 9 volt and 6 volt lantern batteries, and button batteries and button cells.

What about rechargeable batteries?

Removable rechargeable batteries weighing 5 kg or less are covered, along with the rechargeable batteries that power e-bikes, electric scooters, self-balancing scooters and electric skateboards.

Are phone, laptop or car batteries covered?

No. The regulation leaves out mobile phone batteries, laptop and tablet batteries, lead acid batteries (which includes car batteries) and the back-up batteries built into emergency lighting.

My e-bike’s battery is built in. Does it count?

Yes. If a regulated battery can’t practicably be removed from an e-bike, e-scooter or similar device, the regulation treats the whole device as a regulated battery.

What about vapes, electric toothbrushes and Bluetooth speakers?

Not under these rules. Anything not on the regulation’s list is outside the scheme. The EPA has said future regulations are planned for other battery types, including batteries embedded in consumer electronics, home batteries and electric vehicle batteries.

I sell batteries online from another state. Does this apply to me?

It can. The regulation counts the person responsible for bringing a battery into NSW for supply as a brand owner, and the Act applies to suppliers outside NSW where the supply is into NSW. Whether that’s you in a particular arrangement is a question for the EPA. The business page walks through the test.

I run a shop that sells other companies’ brands. Am I a brand owner?

Usually the brand owner is whoever owns the brand the battery is sold under in NSW, or whoever brings it into NSW to sell. If you buy from a supplier that does both, it’s likely them rather than you. If you import batteries yourself, or sell your own label, you may be the brand owner.

Is there a threshold for small suppliers?

Yes. The regulation’s core scheme requirements, and its clauses on record content, reporting and action plans, don’t apply to a brand owner that supplies less than 24 kg of regulated batteries in NSW in a financial year. Whether the Act’s own notice, reporting and record duties still apply below that isn’t spelled out, so ask the EPA.

What are the penalties?

The highest maximum court penalty is 8,000 penalty units ($880,000) for a corporation that breaches a safety requirement, such as the rules on collection points and bins. For an individual it’s 2,000 units ($220,000). That’s at the NSW penalty unit value of $110, and the amounts can grow for each day an offence continues. The business page has the full table.

Will there be new drop-off bins?

The regulation requires enough collection points in metropolitan and regional NSW, each showing which battery types it takes, with bins built to keep out moisture and the wrong items and to contain a fire. Those arrive through an action plan lodged with the EPA after a scheme administrator is in place, and when we checked on 5 October 2026, none had been announced.

Is B-cycle the new scheme?

Not that anyone has announced. B-cycle describes itself as Australia’s nationwide, government-backed battery stewardship scheme. The EPA’s stated intent is to appoint a product stewardship organisation to run the NSW scheme, and it hasn’t said who that will be.

Who can I ask?

The EPA’s product stewardship page gives this contact for the batteries scheme: batteries.reform@epa.nsw.gov.au