Industry Guidelines

    As part of the Lead Battery 360° program we aim to promote a better understanding of what constitutes responsible lead battery manufacturing and recycling. Over the years we have developed guidelines and tools to allow stakeholders to gain a fundamental understanding of the key principles required to recycle lead batteries in a manner that avoids environmental pollution and adverse health impacts.

    UNEP Guidance Manual for Policymakers and Regulators on the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Lead Acid Batteries

    The International Lead Association was delighted to contribute to the development of a United Nations Environment Programme guidance manual aimed at policymakers and regulators in Africa to help them develop and implement policies and regulations to ensure that waste lead-acid batteries are collected and recycled in an environmentally sound manner (ESM). As well as providing tools and strategies to help achieve this objective the document highlights case studies in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Nigeria.


    Basel Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Lead-acid Batteries

    The International Lead Association has a long history of supporting the development of guidelines to facilitate the responsible recycling of lead batteries. Our expertise was the foundation for the development of the Basel Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Lead-acid Batteries that was published in 2003. These guidelines are currently being updated to better reflect the current state of the art.


    Standard Operating Procedures for Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead-acid Batteries

    Sometimes guidelines need to be made a little simpler to allow stakeholders to get a fundamental understanding of the key principles required to recycle lead batteries in a manner that avoids environmental pollution and adverse health impacts. Lead Battery 360° partners were delighted to work with Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) to produce a series of standard operating procedures (SOPs) on lead battery recycling for the government of Ghana .

    The SOPs are structured and developed in a format and style that is:

    • practical (covering all process steps);
    • understandable (also for persons with no specific technical know-how);
    • concise (no lengthy texts);
    • supported with pictures and diagrams.

    They are intended for use in low and middle income countries where regulators may not have a good understanding of the procedures that should be adopted by lead battery recyclers to protect human health and the environment.


    Other Published Guidelines

    In 2016 the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) published a report providing technical guidelines for the environmentally sound recycling of spent lead-acid batteries (SLABs) in North America.

    The report identifies and consolidates best practices and technologies for collecting and recycling SLABs in a manner that protects the environment, and the health and safety of workers and the public. Although developed specifically for North America the guidelines offer a good framework for the development of lead battery recycling practices in other regions.