(1) A program must provide collection services for covered electronic products of all product types and produced by any manufacturer that are reasonably convenient and available to all citizens of the state residing within its geographic boundaries, including both rural and urban areas. Each program must provide collection service in every county of the state. A program may provide collection services jointly with another plan or plans.

(a) For any city or town with a population of greater than ten thousand, each program shall provide a minimum of one collection site or alternate collection service described in subsection (3) of this section or a combination of sites and alternate service that together provide at least one collection opportunity for all product types. A collection site for a county may be the same as a collection site for a city or town in the county.

(b) Collection sites may include electronics recyclers and repair shops, recyclers of other commodities, reuse organizations, charities, retailers, government recycling sites, or other suitable locations.

(c) Collection sites must be staffed, open to the public at a frequency adequate to meet the needs of the area being served, and on an ongoing basis.

(2) A program may limit the number of covered electronic products or covered electronic products by product type accepted per customer per day or per delivery at a collection site or service. All covered entities may use a collection site as long as the covered entities adhere to any restrictions established in the plans.

(3) A program may provide collection services in forms different than collection sites, such as curbside services, if those alternate services provide equal or better convenience to citizens and equal or increased recovery of unwanted covered electronic products.

(4) For rural areas without commercial centers or areas with widely dispersed population, a program may provide collection at the nearest commercial centers or solid waste sites, collection events, mail-back systems, or a combination of these options.

(5) For small businesses, small governments, charities, and school districts that may have large quantities of covered electronic products that cannot be handled at collection sites or curbside services, a program may provide alternate services. At a minimum, a program must provide for processing of these large quantities of covered electronic products at no charge to the small businesses, small governments, charities, and school districts.

Effective date—2013 c 305: See note following RCW 70A.500.020.