Is Your Business Covered by Washington's Recycling Reform Act? A Simple Checklist

How do I check whether the RRA covers my business?

Run four checks in order and stop at the first one that takes you out. The order is my own arrangement of the statute's tests. The statute does not present them as a checklist.

1. Do you introduce packaged goods or paper products for consumers in Washington? "Introduce" means to sell, offer for sale, distribute, or ship a product within or into Washington (RCW 70A.208.020(22)). Packaging and paper products count when they are sold or supplied to a consumer for personal, noncommercial use (subsections (25) and (26)).
2. Are you the producer? The statute names the producer in a fixed order. For an item sold in packaging at a physical retail location, subsection (29)(a)(i) gives five steps. They run from the manufacturer to the licensed manufacturer, the brand owner, the importer of record and the person that first distributes the item. Ecology's Recycling Reform Act page says a producer is generally the brand owner of a consumer product sold to consumers in Washington. The statute's list for retail items starts with the manufacturer and puts the brand owner third. The first distributor article walks the order.
3. Are you excluded? Under subsection (29)(b), producer does not include government entities, registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations and 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, or de minimis producers. Subsection (16) lists three items. One is less than one ton of covered materials introduced in the most recent fiscal year. Another is less than $5,000,000 in global gross revenue, not including on-premises alcohol sales, for the prior fiscal year. The last is an agricultural employer test. The list reads as alternatives because "or" is the only conjunction, before the last item, but the statute does not say so in words. The de minimis article covers each item.
4. Are your materials covered? Covered material means packaging and paper products introduced into the state, and it does not include exempt materials (subsection (13)). Subsection (19) lists the exempt materials, such as packaging for infant formula, which the statute defines by reference to federal law. Subsection (26) leaves some paper out, such as bound books and copy paper. The materials article has the lists.

If every check keeps you in, the duties the statute places on a producer apply to you, and the next step is a producer responsibility organization (PRO).

What does my situation look like in the statute?

Find the row closest to your business, then read the subsection it names. The table points; it does not decide your company.

Do e-commerce, franchises and contracts change the answer?

Yes. E-commerce splits the packaging into two kinds, a franchise points to the franchisor, and a signed assignment can move the duty to another company.

E-commerce. RCW 70A.208.020(29)(a)(ii) covers items sold or distributed in packaging in or into Washington via e-commerce, remote sale, or distribution. Packaging that directly protects or contains the item has the same producer as under the retail list. For packaging used to ship the item to a consumer, the producer is "the person that packages the item to be shipped to the consumer." If a fulfillment company packs the order, the text does not say whether that company or the seller is that person.

Franchises. Under subsection (29)(a)(vi)(B), if the producer is a business operated wholly or in part as a franchise, the producer is the franchisor. That applies if the franchisor has franchisees that have a commercial presence within the state. Section 020 does not define franchise or "commercial presence."

Contractual assignment. Under subsection (29)(a)(vi)(A), another person can become the producer through a mutually signed agreement. That person must also have joined a registered PRO as the responsible producer for the covered material. The producer under the list must give the PRO written certification of the agreement. Two kinds of person cannot take an assignment, and the first distributor article names them.

Who is excluded even if they sell packaged goods?

Only the three groups named in check 3. RCW 70A.208.020(29)(b) takes them out of the producer definition, and the details differ for each.

Subsection (20) defines a government entity as a local government or agency, a state agency, a federally recognized Indian tribe whose traditional lands and territories include parts of Washington, or a federal agency. The nonprofit exclusion names two kinds of organization and no others. As of this article's last verification date, Ecology's producer page prints "Registered" before each of the two and says no more about it than the statute does.

The exclusion sits in the producer definition. The seller rule is written for a person. RCW 70A.208.230(3) says a person may not sell or distribute in or into the state a covered material of a producer that is not participating in a PRO or is not in compliance. The penalties article covers the notice steps.

Common questions

How do I know if my business is a producer under the RRA?

Find your item in RCW 70A.208.020(29)(a). Retail items, e-commerce, other packaging, publications and other paper each have their own order, and you stop at the first person the order names. Then check the exclusions in subsection (29)(b). The first distributor article walks the retail order step by step.

Do online sellers that ship into Washington have to comply?

It depends on the same checks as any other seller. Shipping a product into Washington is introducing it, and subsection (29)(a)(ii) has its own rule for e-commerce. You must comply only if you are the producer and no exclusion applies. The deadlines article has the dates that apply to producers.

Are nonprofits and government agencies covered?

Government entities and registered 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations are outside the producer definition in RCW 70A.208.020(29)(b). A nonprofit of another kind is not named. The seller rule in RCW 70A.208.230(3) is written for any person, so read it if you resell other companies' products.

Does the law cover packaging that goes to business customers?

Packaging means material sold or supplied with a product to the consumer for personal, noncommercial use (RCW 70A.208.020(25)). Section 020 does not define consumer, so a business that uses the product commercially does not fit that wording on its face. Goods you sell to a retailer that resells them to consumers are different: subsection (29)(a)(i) covers items sold in packaging at a physical retail location. Exempt item (19)(o) covers one narrow business to business case.

What should I do if I am not sure?

Write down what you sell into Washington, who makes each item, whose brand is on it and who your customers are. Then run the four checks. For a close call, Ecology's Recycling Reform Act team takes questions at the email address on its program page.

What to do next

1. List each product line you sell or ship into Washington. Note who manufactures it, whose brand is on it, who imports it, who packs online orders, and whether the buyer is a consumer, a retailer or a business user.
2. Run the four checks for each line. Start with the producer list, then the exclusions, then the materials.
3. Test the de minimis items if you are a producer. Compare yourself with every item in RCW 70A.208.020(16), and use the de minimis article for the method.
4. Contact a PRO if the checks keep you in. RCW 70A.208.040(1)(a) requires a producer to be a member of a registered PRO or to register as one that will implement an individual plan. Ecology's producer page points producers to Circular Action Alliance, the PRO representing producers in Washington, and links its registration materials. The PRO article explains the options.

I am a Distinguished Committee Member of the SWANA Sustainable Materials Management Technical Division and a juror for the NYSAR3 Recycling Leadership Awards, both since 2023.

Sales that mix consumers, retailers and business buyers are the hardest to place. The Washington EPR Compliance Assessment goes through your product lines and marks where the statute is clear and where it is not.

Get the Washington EPR Compliance Assessment

General information, not legal advice.