1. (1) No later than July 1, 2027, and every five years thereafter, a battery stewardship organization shall submit to the executive director a plan for the collection, transportation, processing, and recycling of covered batteries under a battery stewardship program. The executive director shall review and approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a plan based on whether the plan:

   1. (a) Lists and provides contact information for each producer, covered battery brand, and battery-containing product brand covered by the plan, including identifying producers that have contractually accepted responsibility as a producer in accordance with section 25-17-1003 (22)(c);
   2. (b) Proposes performance goals that are consistent with section 25-17-1006, including establishing performance goals for each of the five calendar years after the plan is submitted to the executive director;
   3. (c) Describes how the organization will make retailers aware of the obligation described in section 25-17-1004 (2)(a) to sell only covered batteries and battery-containing products of producers participating in an approved plan;
   4. (d) Describes the education and communications strategy being implemented pursuant to section 25-17-1010 to promote participation in the approved plan and to provide the information necessary for effective participation of consumers, retailers, and others;
   5. (e) Describes how the organization will make signage, written materials, and other promotional materials available to collection sites so that collection sites may use the materials to inform consumers of available end-of-life management options for covered batteries collected by the organization;
   6. (f) Lists promotional activities to be undertaken by the organization, including the identification of consumer awareness goals and strategies that the organization will employ to achieve these goals when the program is implemented;
   7. (g) Includes collection site safety training procedures related to covered battery collection activities at collection sites, including a description of operating protocols to reduce the risk of a spill or fire, response protocols in the event of a spill or fire, and protocols for safe management of damaged or defective batteries that are returned to collection sites;
   8. (h) Describes the method to establish and administer a means for fully funding the program in a manner that equitably distributes the program's costs among the producers participating in the organization, including a description of the charges collected from producers pursuant to section 25-17-1007 (1). If a producer chooses to directly implement a plan individually without designating a nonprofit organization, the plan must describe the proposed method to establish and administer a means for fully funding the program.
   9. (i) Describes how the program will collect all covered types and brands of covered batteries on a free, continuous, convenient, visible, and accessible basis, and in accordance with section 25-17-1008, including a description of how the statewide collection opportunities described in section 25-17-1008 (4)(b) and (4)(c) will be met and a list of the names and addresses of collection sites participating in the program;
   10. (j) Describes how the program will work with materials recovery facilities and secondary processors to properly process and transport for recycling any covered batteries improperly sent to the facilities through the waste or recycling streams;
   11. (k) Provides an explanation for any delay anticipated by the organization for the implementation of the management of medium-format batteries such that the implementation will not begin within six months after the plan is approved, including a delay in the ability to collect, package, transport, or process medium-format batteries in accordance with this part 10, and establishes an expected date of compliance for the management of medium-format batteries that is no later than January 1, 2029, if a delay occurs;
   12. (l) Describes the criteria to be used by the program to determine whether an entity may serve as a collection site for covered batteries under the program;
   13. (m) Identifies proposed service providers, such as sorters, transporters, and processors, to be used by the program for the final disposition of covered batteries and proposed provisions for record keeping, tracking, and documenting the fate of collected covered batteries;
   14. (n) Details how the program will achieve a recycling efficiency rate of at least sixty percent for rechargeable batteries and at least seventy percent for primary batteries;
   15. (o) Proposes goals for increasing public awareness of the program and describes how the public education and outreach components of the program required by section 25-17-1010 will be implemented; and
   16. (p) If the performance goals described in section 25-17-1006, and as approved in the battery stewardship plan, have not been met, includes corrective measures to be implemented by the organization to meet its performance goals, which may include improvements to the collection site network or increased expenditures dedicated to education and outreach.
2. (2) A battery stewardship organization must provide plan amendments to the executive director for approval when proposing changes to the performance goals described in section 25-17-1006 based on the experience of the program, including the experience of the program during the six months before the submission of the amendments, or when there is a change to the method of financing the program pursuant to section 25-17-1007 (1).

3. (3)

   1. (a) The executive director shall review battery stewardship plans and plan amendments for compliance with this part 10 and shall approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a plan or a plan amendment within one hundred twenty days after receipt of the plan or plan amendment; except that, if multiple plans are submitted, the review timeline is extended by sixty days.
   2. (b) If the executive director disapproves a battery stewardship plan or plan amendment, the executive director shall provide a written notice of disapproval explaining how the plan or plan amendment does not comply with this part 10. The battery stewardship organization shall submit to the executive director a revised plan, plan amendment, or notice of plan withdrawal within sixty days after the date that the written notice of disapproval is issued. The executive director shall review a revised plan or plan amendment within ninety days after the organization submits the revised plan, plan amendment, or notice of plan withdrawal.
   3. (c) If a revised plan is disapproved by the executive director, a producer operating under the plan is not in compliance with this part 10 until the executive director approves a plan submitted by an organization that covers the producer or the producer's battery brand or battery-containing product brand.
   4. (d) If a plan, plan amendment, or revised plan is submitted to the executive director pursuant to this section, the executive director shall make the plan, plan amendment, or revised plan available for public review and comment for at least thirty days.
   5. (e) A battery stewardship organization shall provide written notification to the executive director within thirty days after a producer begins to participate or ceases to participate in the organization or after the adding or removing of a processor or transporter.

Source: L. 2025: Entire part added, (SB 25-163), ch. 421, p. 2387, § 1, effective August 6.