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What are my obligations as a retailer or a distributor?

Starting January 1, 2015, every Washington retailer and distributor must add the environmental handling charge (EHC) to the purchase price of all mercury-containing lights sold at retail in Washington State.

Retailers and distributors have the choice of two options:

  1. Pay the EHC to their supplier at the time of wholesale purchase, and then add the EHC to the price of the lights sold at retail in order to recover that cost.
  2. Register with the program, and then charge the EHC on the lights sold at retail (or sold to Washington retailers for sale at retail) and remit the EHCs collected directly to the LightRecycle program.

The Department of Ecology provides a list of all participating producers on it’s website. Product retailers, distributors, wholesalers, and electric utilities may not distribute or sell mercury-containing lights in or into the state from producers who are not on the Department of Ecology’s list of participating producers and who are not participating in a product stewardship program.