Title 70A, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

Nothing in this chapter shall prevent a recycling company or nonprofit entity from collecting and transporting recyclable materials from a buy-back center, drop-box, or from a commercial or industrial generator of recyclable materials, or upon agreement with a solid waste collect…

Nothing in this chapter is applicable to steel slag that is a primary product of production in the electric arc steel-making process, produced to specification, managed as an item of commercial value, and placed in commerce for general public consumption, provided that such steel…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Center" means the Washington center for sustainable food management. (2) "Department" means the department of ecology. (3) "Organic material" has the same definition …

(1) The Washington center for sustainable food management is established within the department. (2) The purpose of the center is to help coordinate statewide food waste reduction. (3) The center may perform the following activities: (a) Coordinate the implementation of the plan; …

(1) By January 1, 2025, and in consultation with the office of the attorney general, the department must research and adopt several model ordinances for optional use by counties and cities that provide for model mechanisms for commercial solid waste collection and disposal that a…

(1) The department, through the center, must develop and administer grant programs to support activities that reduce emissions from landfills and waste-to-energy facilities through the diversion of organic materials and food waste prevention, rescue, and recovery. The department …

(1) The department, through the center, must develop and administer grant programs to support the implementation of the requirements of chapter 314, Laws of 2025, including the requirements of RCW 70A.205.750, chapter 341, Laws of 2024, and chapter 180, Laws of 2022, with priorit…

(1) The legislature finds that, as of 2025: (a) Washington's statewide waste recovery rate has been generally static since 2011 and Washington is not meeting the statewide goal of 50 percent recycling established in 1989; and (b) Many residents, particularly those who live in rur…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Advisory council" means the council established in RCW 70A.208.050. (2) "Alternative recycling process" means a recycling process that occurs other than through purel…

(1) By January 1, 2026, each producer must appoint a producer responsibility organization or producer responsibility organizations to address its covered materials. (2) By March 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, a producer responsibility organization must register with the depart…

(1) A producer must: (a) After July 1, 2026, be a member of a producer responsibility organization registered in this state or register as a producer responsibility organization that will implement an individual plan; (b) Through a producer responsibility organization, implement …

(1) The advisory council is established to review all activities conducted by producer responsibility organizations under this chapter and to advise the department and producer responsibility organizations regarding the implementation of this chapter. (2) By January 1, 2026, the …

(1) The department must implement, administer, and enforce this chapter and may adopt rules as necessary for those purposes. (2) The department must: (a) By January 1, 2026, appoint the initial membership of the advisory council, as required under RCW 70A.208.050; (b) Provide adm…

(1) By January 31, 2026, and annually thereafter, each service provider that intends to seek reimbursement for services provided under an approved plan must register with the department by submitting the following information: (a) The contact information for a person representing…

A service provider receiving reimbursement or funding under an approved plan must: (1) Provide covered services for covered materials included on the statewide collection lists, covered services for a refill system, or covered services for reusable covered materials, as applicabl…

(1)(a) The department must develop lists of covered materials determined to be recyclable or compostable statewide. By October 1, 2026, the department must develop initial lists for use and evaluation in the needs assessment described in RCW 70A.208.110. The department must also …

(1) Collection services for covered materials determined to be suitable for residential recycling collection under RCW 70A.208.090 must be available wherever residential garbage collection services are available, except in areas subject to a county ordinance as specified in RCW 7…

(1)(a) By December 31, 2026, the department must complete a preliminary assessment consistent with subsection (3) of this section. (b) By December 31, 2027, and every five years thereafter, the department must complete a needs assessment consistent with subsection (4) of this sec…

(1) By January 31, 2032, the department must complete a study, conducted by a contracted third party that is not a producer or producer responsibility organization, of facilities operating in the state that manage covered materials and at facilities operating in the state that re…

(1) By October 1, 2028, and every five years thereafter, each registered producer responsibility organization must submit a plan to the department that describes the proposed operation by the organization of programs to fulfill the requirements of this chapter and that incorporat…

(1) A producer responsibility organization must submit to the department a contingency plan demonstrating how the activities in the plan will continue to be carried out by some other entity, such as an escrow company, if needed: (a) Until such time as a new or updated plan is sub…

(1) Each producer responsibility organization must propose performance targets based on the needs assessment that meet the statewide requirements in subsection (10) of this section that must be included in an approved plan. Performance targets must include reuse rates, return rat…

(1) A registered producer responsibility organization may charge each member producer a fee according to each producer's unit-based, weight-based, volume-based, or sales-based market share or by another method it determines to be an equitable determination of each producer's paym…

(1) The reimbursements provided for covered services to covered entities under an approved plan must only be provided to service providers that, at a minimum, meet the performance standards established under an approved plan. (2)(a) A plan must provide a methodology for reimburse…

(1) For infrastructure investments, a producer responsibility organization must use a competitive bidding process and publicly post bid opportunities, except that preference must be given to existing facilities and providers of services in the state for waste reduction, refill, r…

(1) A producer responsibility organization must develop and maintain a public website that uses best practices for accessibility and contains, at a minimum: (a) Information regarding a process that members of the public may use to contact the producer responsibility organization …

(1) By July 1, 2031, and each July 1st thereafter, a producer responsibility organization must submit an annual report to the department that contains, at a minimum, the following information for the previous calendar year: (a) The amount of covered materials introduced, by cover…

(1)(a) By January 1, 2028, the department must contract with an independent consultant to carry out a one-time ex-ante analysis of each draft plan submitted to the department by October 1, 2028, that addresses: (i) The impact of the proposed program on the consumer prices of cove…

A producer responsibility organization, service provider, material recovery facility, organic material management facility, responsible market, or other entity that submits information or records to the department under this chapter may request that the information or records, in…

(1)(a) The department may administratively impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation per day on any producer who violates this chapter and up to $10,000 per violation per day for the second and each subsequent violation. (b) For a producer out of compliance with the re…

(1) The department shall contract with an independent consultant to conduct two studies on the potential statewide impacts of a recycling refunds program, also known as a beverage container deposit return system, in Washington state. The studies must prioritize equity, accessibil…

(1) It is the intent of the legislature that if a bottle deposit return system is enacted in the future, it will be harmonized with this chapter in a manner that ensures that: (a) Materials covered in that system are exempt from this chapter or related financial obligations are r…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, one year prior to the submission of a plan, a producer, group of producers, or a producer responsibility organization may submit a petition to the department to request for reasons of public health or safety the temporary …

(1) The department must periodically assess the availability of, and methodology used by, the United States centers for disease control and the agency for toxic substances and disease registry's social vulnerability index, as compared to how it existed as of January 1, 2025. (2) …

The responsible recycling management account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts received by the department under this chapter must be deposited in the account. Only the director of the department or the director's designee may authorize expenditures fr…

(1) Nothing in chapter 316, Laws of 2025 impacts an entity's eligibility for any state or local incentive or assistance program to which they are otherwise eligible. Nothing in chapter 316, Laws of 2025 limits the authority of private parties or government entities to enter into …

The legislature finds: (1) That environmental damage seriously endangers the public health and welfare; (2) That such environmental damage results from air, water, and other resources pollution and from solid waste disposal, noise and other environmental problems; (3) That to aba…

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Department" shall mean the state department of ecology; (2) "Facility" or "facilities" shall mean any land, building, structure, machinery, system, fixture, appurtenance, equipment or any combination thereof, or…

In addition to any other powers which it may now have, each municipality shall have the following powers: (1) To acquire, whether by construction, purchase, devise, gift or lease, or any one or more of such methods, one or more facilities which shall be located within, or partial…

All actions heretofore taken by any municipality in conformity with the provisions of this chapter and the provisions of chapter 6, Laws of 1975 hereby made applicable thereto relating to pollution control facilities, including but not limited to all bonds issued for such purpose…

(1) All bonds issued by a municipality under the authority of this chapter shall be secured solely by revenues derived from the lease or sale of the facility. Bonds and any interest coupons issued under the authority of this chapter shall not constitute nor give rise to a pecunia…

The proceeds of any bonds heretofore or hereafter issued in conformity with the authority of this chapter, together with interest and premiums thereon, and any revenues used to pay or redeem any of such bonds, together with interest and any premiums thereon, shall be separate tru…

(1) The principal of and interest on any bonds issued under the authority of this chapter (a) shall be secured by a pledge of the revenues derived from the sale or lease of the facilities out of which such bonds shall be made payable, (b) may be secured by a mortgage covering all…

Prior to the issuance of the bonds authorized by this chapter, the municipality may lease the facilities to a lessee or lessees under an agreement providing for payment to the municipality of such rentals as will be sufficient (a) to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds…

Any bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter and at any time outstanding may at any time and from time to time be refunded by a municipality by the issuance of its refunding bonds in such amount as the governing body may deem necessary but not exceeding an amount suffici…

The proceeds from the sale of any bonds issued under authority of this chapter shall be applied only for the purpose for which the bonds were issued: PROVIDED, That any accrued interest and premium received in any such sale shall be applied to the payment of the principal of or t…