A new organisation has launched in the US to improve the sustainability of batteries.

The Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC) aims to develop best practices for the management of vehicle, industrial and stationary battery units.

It plans to advance the responsible production, transport, sale, use, reuse, recycling and recovery of a wide range of energy storage devices, regardless of what kind of technology they use.

The RBC says batteries need to be properly managed across their entire life-cycle to ensure they don’t cause harm to people or the environment and can eventually be reused or recycled.

The group is partnering with the Sustainability Consortium and the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment to do this.

It is also working with conservation group Living Lands & Waters to avoid batteries ending up in waterways, rivers and oceans.

RBC Executive Director Pat Hayes said: “Every battery needs to be responsibly managed and that’s why we exist. While current vehicle batteries have a 99% recycling rate, our goal is 100%.

“This also means preparing for the influx of advanced energy storage technologies hitting the market over the next five years. Our work is to accelerate solutions to ensure all batteries are responsibly managed.”

Mercedes Benz is offering residential storage batteries to UK customers.