BCI is committed to improving EHS practices through education, outreach, and industry-led standards
By Roger Miksad – President & Executive Director, Battery Council International
This October, I’ll be boarding a plane to Colombo, Sri Lanka — not for a vacation, and not just for a conference, but to help BCI’s partners around the world improve recycling safety standards.
Battery Council International is proud to serve as sponsoring partner of the Lead Training Academy’s Learning Lead Course 2026, held alongside the 10th International Secondary Lead Conference from October 26-28 in Sri Lanka. BCI staff and experts from our member companies will share real-world experiences with our counterparts in the region, including government officials, NGO representatives, and health workers.
The goal of BCI’s presence is simple: To safeguard workers and communities from inappropriate and illegal practices everywhere in the world. Battery recycling safety is an issue that transcends borders and demands the time and attention of the entire battery industry.
Recycling success at home didn’t happen by accident
In North America, lead battery recycling is one of the true circular-economy success stories — batteries have been recycled at a rate of ~98% or more every year for more than two decades, supplying the vast majority of the lead used in new battery production. That safe and effective supply chain took hard work, dedication, and investment and happened because our industry made a deliberate, decades-long commitment to doing it right.
Just as important, that system also didn’t arise because of a heavy-handed government mandate or a one-size-fits-all approach. It was born because public and private sector stakeholders partnered on rational rules based on real science that allow businesses to operate effectively even as they operate safely. This is the model for lead recyclers everywhere.
The companies in this industry have also invested in doing things right. On average, U.S. battery recyclers invest about 15,000 hours annually in Environmental, Health and Safety training. That commitment has helped drive real innovation through better air filtration and better water treatment, which means BCI member companies regularly exceed their baseline regulatory requirements.
Since 1997, BCI’s manufacturing and recycling members have voluntarily participated in a program to protect employee blood lead levels that goes well beyond U.S. federal requirements. Our members have continuously improved ever since, achieving steady reductions over time that prove these standards work.
Twice every four years, BCI brings EHS professionals together at BCI’s Environmental Health & Safety Conference, the largest gathering of lead battery EHS professionals in the country. Here these experts gather to share best practices and learn about new innovations, raising the bar for the entire industry.
All these are not talking points. They represent a proven track record of safety, success, and hard work; they are examples of the right way to build a recycling network that works.
For me, these items also create a an opportunity for BCI and its members to share this success story with the rest of the world so every worker and community is afforded the same level of protection that we enjoy right here in the U.S.
The problem doesn’t respect a map
Lead batteries are used and recycled everywhere in the world, but the infrastructure to process the metal safely varies greatly by geography. In too many low- and middle-income countries, informal and under-regulated recycling operations still put workers, families, and entire communities at risk.
Worse, that’s not because the science of safe recycling is unsolved. It’s because the knowledge, standards, and systems that exist in North America, Europe, and other high-performing areas haven’t reached everywhere it should be yet.
The idea behind showing up in Colombo is not to lecture or create mandates that don’t work for local jurisdictions, but to lend our expertise. BCI will put our people, our data, and our decades of hard-won lessons directly into the hands of the professionals doing this work so they can help improve their own operations and communities.
Every attendee at this course should be able to walk out the door and immediately make their workplace and their community safer, because they had direct access to standards and practices that took our industry 40 years to build.
Safety is everyone’s responsibility
BCI has spent decades investing in EHS science, training, and infrastructure because we believe it’s the right thing to do — not because a regulator forced our hand.
Our organization also helped found the Lead Battery 360 framework to share the best practices developed by our members, and to raise standards in underperforming nations. As of early this year, the program boasts 10 participants worldwide and continues to grow.
The Learning Lead Course, in partnership with the International Secondary Lead Conference, is simply another global expression of our values.
We’re incredibly proud of the 98% recycling rate for lead batteries here in the U.S. We’re also proud of our members that continuously raise the bar for health and safety across North America. But global lead safety leadership isn’t about victory laps. It’s about ensuring a pathway to safety for every company and every community in the world.
Roger Miksad is the President and Executive Director of Battery Council International, a trade association formed in 1924 to advance the North American battery industry. He joined BCI in 2020, and today leads BCI as the organization’s efforts to advance the battery manufacturing and recycling industry through technology advancement and to seek sound government policy.
