Many states have regulations in place requiring battery recycling. The U.S. Congress passed the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Act (PDF) (9 pp, 134K, About PDF) in 1996 to make it easier for rechargeable battery and product manufacturers to collect and recycle Ni-CD batteries and certain small sealed lead-acid batteries. For these regulated batteries, the act requires the following:

• Batteries must be easily removable from consumer products, to make it easier to recover them for recycling.
• Battery labels must include the battery chemistry, the "three chasing arrows" symbol, and a phrase indicating that the user must recycle or dispose of the battery properly.
• National uniformity in collection, storage, and transport of certain batteries.
• Phase out the use of certain mercury-containing batteries.