Batteries - research into policy options

To review the current regulations and requirements with a view to:
• Identifying how effective the regulations has been in terms of meeting its objectives and in what ways could the regulations be improved to drive more circularity.
• Determining whether the regulations have driven battery producers to innovate (eg design changes/improvements, notwithstanding that design improvements was not an overt objective of the regulations), or do they simply just ignore the regulations, eg because of lack of enforcement?
• Identifying how eco-modulation mechanisms could support a future batteries regime, not only ensuring that treatment across all battery types is appropriately incentivised (rather than just the lowest cost as at present), but also providing upstream signals where that is appropriate e.g. rechargeable vs primary.
• How could the regulations legally incentivise domestic processing? For example, is there scope for smaller producers to pay a one off fee to cover their liability and contribute to processing costs?
• Examining the feasibility of establishing some form of deposit return scheme for batteries and to consider how effectively such a policy measure might support and incentivise domestic processing.
• What scope is there to recover more of the rarer materials?