Stop being a dumping ground for used e-bike batteries

Used e-bike batteries are piling up because too many suppliers are failing to meet their legal obligations, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.

This article was published for BikeBiz magazine's November 2025 issue.

Bike shops across the UK have a problem, and it’s sitting in their back rooms, taking up space, creating fire risks, and costing them money they shouldn’t be spending. Used e-bike batteries are piling up because too many suppliers are failing to meet their legal obligations.

It’s time to stop being polite about it.

Walk into almost any bike shop selling e-bikes, and you’ll find a collection of used batteries somewhere out back. Shop owners know they’re hazardous waste, they know they need proper disposal, but they’re stuck in a frustrating cycle of chasing suppliers who seem to think battery collection is optional.

It isn’t. Under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, the responsibility for collecting and recycling industrial batteries, which includes e-bike batteries, lies squarely with the producers. Not the retailers.

With growing scrutiny around battery fires and improper disposal, getting this wrong isn’t just inconvenient – it’s potentially catastrophic for your business. Stockpiling waste batteries increases fire risk and creates potential insurance issues. Meanwhile, every day you spend chasing suppliers for collection is time you’re not spending on customers.

The irony is stark: the companies profiting from putting these batteries on the market are leaving bike shops to deal with the aftermath, often at their own expense.

Here’s what every bike shop owner needs to understand: you have no legal obligation to take back used e-bike batteries. Unlike portable batteries (think bike lights, where there are collection schemes), industrial batteries, like e-bike batteries, don’t benefit from collective producer funding. Each producer – the manufacturer or UK importer – has a direct legal obligation to collect waste e-bike batteries free of charge from end users.

This means every time a customer brings in a dead e-bike battery, you’re providing a service that should be funded by the original supplier. Every pound you spend on battery disposal is a pound that should be in their budget, not yours.

Unless you have an agreement in place to accept batteries for a particular producer (for example, in your supplier contract, or through an industry-level scheme such as the one under development by the Bicycle Association), then you have every right to refuse to take e-bike batteries for disposal.

Instead, you can advise the customer that they should take the battery away and request a collection directly from the producer, who will be legally obliged to arrange a collection at their cost.

You may have already accepted end-of-life batteries back from customers – perhaps because it’s a customer expectation, or because it could risk a sale or a customer relationship. So there may well be waste batteries from a variety of producers in your shop.

For these, the solution is simple but requires backbone: persistent, professional pestering of the suppliers until they fulfil their legal responsibilities.

Start by identifying the producer – in most cases, this will be the bike brand or their UK distributor (rather than the drive system or battery manufacturer). All battery producers must be registered with the Environment Agency, and there’s a public register you can check.

Then make contact and be clear: this is their legal responsibility, not a favour you’re asking. Document your attempts and maintain follow-up until they act. If they refuse or ignore you, escalate to the Environment Agency, who can intervene on regulatory noncompliance.

There may be batteries in your stockpile for which you cannot identify a producer – for example, untrustworthy batteries procured from online marketplaces. The best advice is not to let batteries from unknown brands into your shop at all in future, and certainly don’t accept them for disposal. But if they are already in your shop, you will need to arrange their proper disposal yourself – ASAP – as these are often high fire risk batteries.

This issue affects every shop selling e-bikes. We need suppliers to understand that dumping waste e-bike battery collection responsibility on retailers isn’t sustainable or fair.

Some suppliers are already doing this right, with agreements in place with retailers, arranging regular collections and taking responsibility seriously. They deserve credit. But others are clearly hoping the problem will go away or that retailers will quietly absorb the costs.

Battery disposal isn’t the retailer’s financial burden – it’s a producer responsibility enshrined in law. Push for clarity and accountability from your suppliers. If they’re not offering collection support, know that you can simply refuse to take back or dispose of their batteries.

At the ACT, we’re committed to working with all stakeholders to improve the health of our supply chain, and we’ve developed high-quality training and accreditation schemes (within the Cytech programme) that help consumers identify retailers who adhere to the highest standards of professional practice and invest in their workforce.

Learn more about what being a member of the ACT can give you by clicking the link here.

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