West Virginia Code 22-15A-26 – Manufacturers’ takeback programs
(a) Before a manufacturer may offer a covered electronic device for sale or lease in this state, the manufacturer may:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-15A-26
- Brand: means the name, symbol, logo, trademark, or other information that identifies a product rather than the components of the product. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
- Covered electronic device: means a television, computer or video display device with a screen that is greater than four inches measured diagonally. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Manufacturer: means a person that is the brand owner of a covered electronic device or television sold or offered for sale in this state by any means, including transactions conducted through retail sales outlets, catalogs or the Internet. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
- Person: means a natural person, corporation, firm, partnership, association or society and the plural as well as the singular. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
- Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Television: means any telecommunication system device that can receive moving pictures and sound broadcast over a distance and includes a television tuner or a video display device peripheral to a computer in which the display contains a television tuner. See West Virginia Code 22-15A-2
(1) Adopt and implement a takeback program; and
(2) Affix a permanent, readily visible label to the covered electronic device or television with the manufacturer's brand.
(b) The takeback program shall enable a consumer to recycle covered electronic devices or televisions without paying a separate recycling fee at the time of recycling and shall include provisions for:
(1) The manufacturer's collection from a consumer of any covered electronic device that has reached the end of its useful life and is labeled with the manufacturer's brand; and
(2) Recycling or reuse of covered electronic devices collected under subdivision (1) of this section.
(c) The collection of covered electronic devices provided under the takeback program must be reasonable, convenient and available to consumers in the state and designed to meet the collection needs of consumers in the state. Examples of collection methods that alone or combined meet the convenience requirements of this section include:
(1) A system by which the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee offers the consumer a system for returning covered electronic devices by mail at no charge to the consumer.
(2) A system using a physical collection site that the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee operates and to which the consumer may return covered electronic devices.
(3) A system using collection events held by the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee at which the consumer may return covered electronic devices.
(d) Collection services under this section may use existing collection infrastructure for handling covered electronic devices and should encourage the inclusion of systems jointly managed by a group of manufacturers, electronic recyclers and repair shops, recyclers of other commodities, reuse organizations, not-for-profit corporations, retailers, recyclers and other suitable operations. If a manufacturer or its designee offers a mail-back system as described in this section, either individually, by working together with a group of manufacturers or by working with others, it shall be deemed to meet the convenience requirements of this section.
(e) The takeback program shall include information for the consumer on how and where to return the manufacturer's covered electronic device. The manufacturer shall include collection, recycling and reuse information on the manufacturer's publicly available website. The manufacturer shall provide collection, recycling and reuse information to the secretary. The manufacturer may include collection, recycling and reuse information in the packaging or in the other materials that accompany the manufacturer's covered electronic devices when the equipment is sold.
(f) If more than one person is a manufacturer of a certain brand of covered electronic devices as defined in section two of this article, any of those persons may assume responsibility for and satisfy the obligations of a manufacturer under this article for that brand. If none of those persons assumes responsibility or satisfies the obligations of a manufacturer for the covered electronic devices of that brand, the secretary may consider any of those persons to be the responsible manufacturer for purposes of this section and sections twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six and twenty-seven of this article.