This sounds kind of reasonable if you're only optimizing for battery recycling, but in practice this kind of regulation would make the world worse. In other words, you want regulators to force phone companies to stop making thin, waterproof phones. It makes far more sense IMO to incentivize recycling/recovery for unwanted devices, and then harvest batteries in a professional facility rather than asking individuals to do it prior to recycling their devices.

> You sit back and let the market sort out the details.

You say this but you are suggesting the imposition of a very substantial regulation.