BILL REQ. #:  H-3753.1 

Read first time 01/15/2004.   Referred to Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks.

     AN ACT Relating to electronic product management; and adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Advisory committee" means the electronic product management and recycling advisory committee created in section 4 of this act.
     (2) "Collective recovery plan" means an electronic waste recovery and recycling plan in section 2 of this act in which more than one manufacturer has agreed to participate.
     (3) "Covered electronic product" means all computer monitors, computer central processing units, and televisions.
     (4) "Department" means the department of ecology.
     (5) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology.
     (6) "Electronic waste" means a covered electronic product that has been discarded by its owner, or that has entered the solid waste stream.
     (7) "End of life fee" means a fee charged to the last consumer to use a covered electronic product.
     (8) "Front end financing" means costs recovered at the time of sale, either internalized into the final sale price, or specifically itemized and added to the final sale price.
     (9) "Hazardous electronic material" means covered electronic products that contain concentrations of toxic materials exceeding the regulatory levels established in Title 40 C.F.R. Part 261.24 as it exists on the effective date of this act.
     (10) "Manufacturer" means any person who, as of the effective date of this act: (a) Manufactures and sells covered electronic equipment under its own brand; (b) manufactures and sells covered electronic equipment without affixing a brand; or (c) resells covered electronic products produced by other suppliers under its own brand and label. The term "manufacturer" applies regardless of the selling technique used, including distance communication.
     (11) "Plan" or "plans" means both electronic waste recovery and recycling plans and collective recovery plans required under section 2 of this act that are filed by manufacturers.
     (12) "Recycling" means the use of previously manufactured materials including metals, glass, and plastics, as feedstock in the manufacturing of new products. "Recycling" does not include energy recovery or energy generation by means of combusting electronic waste with or without other waste.
     (13) "Reuse" means any operation by which electronic waste or components of electronic waste are used for the same purposes for which they were originally created, including the continued use of the equipment or components of the equipment that are returned to collection points, recyclers, or manufacturers.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1)(a) Except as provided in this section, by June 30, 2006, every manufacturer must develop, submit to the department, implement, and finance the implementation of a plan for the collection and recycling or reuse of twenty percent, by weight, of the covered electronic products sold by the manufacturer in Washington.
     (b) By June 30, 2007, every manufacturer must increase the recycling and reuse of all covered electronic products ten percent, by weight, per year for five years, to achieve the following recycling goals:
     (i) Thirty percent by June 30, 2007;
     (ii) Forty percent by June 30, 2008;
     (iii) Fifty percent by June 30, 2009;
     (iv) Sixty percent by June 30, 2010; and
     (v) Seventy percent by June 30, 2011.
     (2) A manufacturer may satisfy the plan requirements of this chapter by agreeing to participate in a collective recovery plan with other manufacturers. The collective recovery plan must meet the same standards and requirements of the plans submitted by individual manufacturers.
     (3) All plans required by this chapter must include, at a minimum:
     (a) A description of the collection system, including the methods of convenient collection;
     (b) A public education element to inform the public about the collection system, including details about meeting all consumer notification and labeling requirements;
     (c) Details for implementing and financing the collection, recovery, recycling, and reuse of the covered electronic products sold by that manufacturer in the state;
     (d) Details for the method of reimbursing local governments, nonprofit corporations, and retailers for the cost of collection and recycling of the manufacturers' covered electronic products;
     (e) Documentation of the willingness of all necessary parties to implement the agreement, including the parties that will participate in the collection, treatment, recovery, reuse, and recycling of the covered electronic products;
     (f) Assurances that the system, and all necessary parties, will operate in compliance with local, state, and federal waste management rules and regulations;
     (g) Descriptions of the performance measures that will be used and reported by the manufacturer to demonstrate that the plan is meeting the required recovery and recycling rates for its own brand of covered electronic products at end of life, as well as other measures of the plan's effectiveness;
     (h) Descriptions of additional or alternative actions that will be taken if performance measures are not met;
     (i) Ideas for the creation of economic incentives for the design of environmentally friendly products; and
     (j) Annual sales data on the number and type of covered electronic products sold by the manufacturer in Washington over the ten years preceding the filing of the plan for televisions, and five years preceding the filing of the plan for computer monitors and central processing units.
     (4) The manufacturers are responsible for all costs associated with the development and implementation of the plans. These costs include cost for collection and public education and outreach. If the costs are passed on to consumers, it must be done so with front end financing, and not with an end of life fee.
     (5) All plans required by this chapter must be submitted to the department by September 30, 2005, and reviewed by the department by December 31, 2005, with implementation by manufacturers beginning by June 30, 2006.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) All manufacturers must submit an initial report to the department by May 1, 2007, and each May 1st thereafter. The reports must contain, at a minimum:
     (a) The quantities of covered electronic products sold by that manufacturer in the state during the previous year;
     (b) The weight of the electronic waste recovered in the previous year;
     (c) The weight of recovered electronic waste that is reused;
     (d) The weight of recovered electronic waste that is recycled;
     (e) Progress reports towards making more environmentally friendly products;
     (f) The results of any performance measures included in the plan;
     (g) Identification of the end markets for collected electronic waste;
     (h) Educational and promotional efforts that will be undertaken; and
     (i) Any other information deemed necessary by the department.
     (2) The department must review all reports and provide a notice of adequate compliance or deficiency to manufacturers by November 1st of each year.
     (3) All reports submitted to the department must be available to the general public through the internet. However, the manufacturer submitting the report may indicate which portions, if any, it considers proprietary and, if the department concurs that the information meets state legal requirements for confidentiality, those sections of the report shall not be made public.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) The electronic product management and recycling advisory committee is created within the department of community, trade, and economic development. Members shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the director of the department of community, trade, and economic development.
     (2) Advisory committee membership shall include, at least, persons who represent each of the following: Covered electronic product manufacturers, covered electronic product retailers, waste haulers, cities, counties, recyclers, labor organizations, environmental organizations, and public interest organizations.
     (3) The advisory committee is responsible for making grants and loans for electronic product management activities. Eligible electronic product management activities include but are not limited to:
     (a) Small business development to promote electronic product management;
     (b) Research and development to reduce the use of hazardous electronic materials and the generation of hazardous waste; and
     (c) Collection, recycling, and reuse of electronic products.
     (4) Members of the advisory committee shall serve four-year renewable terms.
     (5) Each member of the advisory committee shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for travel expenses as authorized in RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
     (6) Staff to the advisory committee must be provided by the department of community, trade, and economic development.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   There is levied a five-dollar fee on the retail sale of new covered electronic products for a period of five years, beginning January 1, 2005. The fee imposed in this section shall be paid by the buyer to the seller, and each seller shall collect from the buyer the full amount of the fee. The fee collected from the buyer by the seller less the ten percent amount retained by the seller as provided in section 6 of this act shall be paid to the department of revenue in accordance with RCW 82.32.045. All other applicable provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW have full force and application with respect to the fee imposed under this section. The department of revenue shall administer this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   The electronic product management account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. Except for ten percent retained by the seller for administrative costs, all receipts from the sale of covered electronic products in section 5 of this act must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only for electronic product management grants recommended by the advisory committee created in section 4 of this act. Only the director of the department of community, trade, and economic development or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   By June 30, 2006, all covered electronic products sold in Washington must bear a clear label, or be packaged with informational materials, provided by the manufacturer, that provides the consumer or end user with information relating to the following:
     (1) The hazardous materials contained in the covered electronic product and its parts and subparts;
     (2) Any restrictions relating to the disposal of covered electronic products in landfills, incinerators, and other means that are not a part of the manufacturer's approved plan; and
     (3) A toll-free telephone number or internet site where consumers can obtain information and instructions concerning the safe disposition of the covered electronic product through the manufacturer's plan.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person who intends to export electronic waste to a foreign destination shall comply with all of the following at least sixty days before export:
     (a) Notify the department of the destination, contents, and volume of the electronic waste to be exported;
     (b) Demonstrate that the importation of electronic waste is not prohibited by any applicable law or regulation of the country of destination and that any import is conducted in accordance with all applicable laws. As part of this demonstration, required import and operating licenses shall be forwarded to the department;
     (c) Demonstrate that the exportation of electronic waste is conducted only in accordance with applicable international law;
     (d) Demonstrate that the management of the exported electronic waste will be handled within the country of destination in accordance with applicable rules, standards, and requirements adopted by the organization for economic cooperation and development for the environmentally sound management of electronic waste as established on the effective date of this act; and
     (e) Demonstrate that the electronic waste is being exported for the purpose of reuse or recycling.
     (2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to a component part of a covered electronic product that is exported to an authorized collector or recycler and that is reused or recycled into a new electronic component.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   The department may adopt rules to implement this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   Sections 1 through 10 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.