Purpose
To create and finance a collection, transportation and processing system throughout Washington for the convenient, safe and environmentally sound recycling of electronic products, and to encourage the design of electronic products that are less toxic and more recyclable.

Shared Responsibility
Creation of a statewide electronics recycling system is a shared responsibility.  Manufacturers will establish and pay for the program, local governments, charities and retailers will play a role in education and may be collection sites, consumers will turn in their old electronics for recycling, and state government will provide oversight and enforcement.

Scope
The system will cover computer monitors, computers, and TVs.  Equipment embedded in medical devices, appliances, and motor vehicles is excluded.  The recycling system will be available to all households, charities, small businesses, small governments and schools.

Programs
By January 2009, manufacturers will establish and finance convenient collection and recycling programs in urban and rural areas in each county throughout the state.  Manufacturers may choose to meet this requirement independently or by joining the standard program established by the legislation.  The standard program will serve as the safety net for those manufacturers who do not wish to set up and run their own programs.

Manufacturers will partner with existing e-waste collectors and will encourage retailers, charities, haulers, local governments and others to become collectors by offering fair compensation for the collection of these products.  The system will encourage a diversity of collectors, and will use incentives to encourage programs to partner with charities engaged in collecting electronics for reuse.

Retailers will assume the responsibilities of a manufacturer for products they sell in the state that are their private label or that are manufactured by a foreign company without a U.S. corporate presence

Public education is a responsibility shared by manufacturers, state government, local governments, and retailers.  Retailers will be required to inform consumers purchasing new electronics of the Department of Ecology’s toll free number and web site showing convenient recycling locations.

Plans
The standard program and independent programs will each submit a plan to Ecology for approval.  The plan must include a description of the collection, transportation and processing systems and service providers that will be utilized, a description of the locations of collection sites and how they will provide adequate service to both rural and urban areas, a description of the systems for tracking progress toward recycling the plan’s fair share, a timeline, and a description of the educational campaign to inform consumers about how to recycle their electronic products.

It will be illegal for any manufacturer or retailer to sell products in the state unless the products are covered in an approved plan. 

Fair Share
Each program has the option and will likely collect all brands of products, not just those manufactured by the participants in a particular program.  The standard program and each independent program will be required to collect and recycle their fair share of covered electronic products.  Periodic sampling and sorting of equipment will be conducted to determine the return share for each program, i.e. the percent of covered products by weight being returned throughout the state that carry the brand names of manufacturers participating in that program.  Each program will be responsible for its return share percent multiplied by the total number of pounds of covered products collected each year.

To ensure a level playing field among manufacturers, plans that do not collect their fair share in a given year will pay into a designated state fund an amount based on the deficit.  Plans that exceed their fair share will be paid from that fund an amount based on their surplus.

Financing
Each manufacturer participating in the standard program will pay fees into the program to cover their portion of costs.  Manufacturers with independent programs will fully fund the implementation of their programs.

Oversight
Ecology will ensure a level playing field among all manufacturers by annually reviewing whether each program has substantially complied with its plan, and taking necessary enforcement action.

Registration
Manufacturers, collectors, and transporters of covered electronic products must register.  Manufacturer registration fees and plan submission fees will be used to cover state costs associated with implementation of this legislation.

Processing Standards
Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring the proper handling of the e-waste.  The legislation and rules established by Ecology will establish processing standards, including standards regarding export to developing countries and prison labor.

National Pre-emption
A national program will preempt Washington’s program if it substantially meets the intent of this act.

This bill is supported by:
Washington Retail Association, Hewlett Packard, Seattle Goodwill, Tacoma Goodwill, Washington Environmental Council, Washington Conservation Voters, Amazon.com, Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition