(1) Every producer of mercury-containing lights sold in or into Washington state for retail sale in Washington state must participate in a product stewardship program for those products, operated by a stewardship organization and financed in the manner provided by RCW 70A.505.050. Every such producer must inform the department of the producer’s participation in a product stewardship program by including the producer’s name in a plan submitted to the department by a stewardship organization as required by RCW 70A.505.040. Producers must satisfy these participation obligations individually or may do so jointly with other producers.

(2) A stewardship organization operating a product stewardship program must pay all administrative and operational costs associated with its program with revenues received from the environmental handling charge described in RCW 70A.505.050. The stewardship organization’s administrative and operational costs are not required to include a collection location’s cost of receiving, accumulating and storing, and packaging mercury-containing lights. However, a stewardship organization may offer incentives or payments to collectors. The stewardship organization’s administrative and operational costs do not include the collection costs associated with curbside and mail-back collection programs. The stewardship organization must arrange for collection service at locations described in subsection (4) of this section, which may include household hazardous waste facilities, charities, retailers, government recycling sites, or other suitable private locations. No such entity is required to provide collection services at their location. For curbside and mail-back programs, a stewardship organization must pay the costs of transporting mercury-containing lights from accumulation points and for processing mercury-containing lights collected by curbside and mail-back programs. For collection locations, including household hazardous waste facilities, charities, retailers, government recycling sites, or other suitable private locations, a stewardship organization must pay the costs of packaging and shipping materials as required under RCW 70A.505.070 or must compensate collectors for the costs of those materials, and must pay the costs of transportation and processing of mercury-containing lights collected from the collection locations.

(3) Product stewardship programs shall collect unwanted mercury-containing lights delivered from covered entities for recycling, processing, or final disposition, and not charge a fee when lights are dropped off or delivered into the program.

(4) Product stewardship programs shall provide, at a minimum, no cost services in all cities in the state with populations greater than ten thousand and all counties of the state on an ongoing, year-round basis.

(5) Product stewardship programs shall promote the safe handling and recycling of mercury-containing lights to the public, including producing and offering point-of-sale educational materials to retailers of mercury-containing lights and point-of-return educational materials to collection locations.

(6) All product stewardship programs operated under approved plans must recover their fair share of unwanted covered products as determined by the department.

(7) The department or its designee may inspect, audit, or review audits of processing and disposal facilities used to fulfill the requirements of a product stewardship program.

(8) No product stewardship program required under this chapter may use federal or state prison labor for processing unwanted products.

(9) Product stewardship programs for mercury-containing lights must be fully implemented by January 1, 2015.

Sunset Act application: See note following chapter digest.

Finding—2014 c 119: See note following RCW 70A.505.020.