§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:
(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.
