R2v3 Certified Facilities in Ohio

Ohio has no electronic waste recycling law and no landfill ban on electronics. It is one of roughly half the states without one. There is no extended producer responsibility program and no state certification of electronics recyclers.

That does not mean nothing applies. It means what applies is the general hazardous waste framework, and it applies to you rather than to a manufacturer.

If you recycle

Under Ohio Administrative Code 3745-51-02(C)(3), used electronic equipment that exhibits a hazardous characteristic is a characteristic by-product and is not a waste when reclaimed. A business sending equipment to a legitimate recycler has no hazardous waste registration, manifest or reporting obligation under Ohio law.

Sources: OAC 3745-51-02

If you dispose

The obligation shifts to you. Under OAC 3745-52-11, a business generating waste must perform and document a hazardous waste determination, and retain the supporting records for at least three years. If the assets fail toxicity characteristic leaching thresholds under OAC 3745-51-24, full RCRA generator requirements apply directly to the business — EPA ID registration, manifests, and biennial reporting for large quantity generators.

Sources: OAC 3745-52-11 · OAC 3745-51-24

The cliff nobody expects

The recycling exemption can be voided retroactively, and the liability lands on you. Under OAC 3745-51-01(C)(8), if a downstream vendor speculatively accumulates material without processing 75% of it within a calendar year, the by-product exemption is void. The equipment is reclassified as hazardous waste from the beginning, and the original owner carries cradle-to-grave liability for it.

You are exposed to what your vendor's downstream partners do with your material after it leaves your building. This is why Appendix A — the downstream recycling chain — is not a formality in Ohio. It is the difference between exempt and liable, backdated.

Sources: OAC 3745-51-01

Penalties

Civil penalties run to $10,000 per day per violation under ORC 3734.13(C). A reckless violation of Chapter 3734 is a felony carrying $10,000 to $25,000 and two to four years imprisonment, and each day is a separate offense under ORC 3734.99(A).

Sources: ORC 3734.13 · ORC 3734.99

On the data, separately

Ohio's breach notification statute is ORC 1349.19 — disclosure no later than 45 days from discovery, enforced exclusively by the Attorney General. Penalties under ORC 1349.192 run from $1,000 per day in the first 60 days to $10,000 per day past 90.

Ohio has no records-disposal statute for private businesses. The mandates at ORC 1347.05(H) and 125.18(B)(4) apply only to government agencies. Nothing in Ohio law requires a private business to destroy media before disposal — the exposure is the breach statute, not a disposal rule.

Sources: ORC 1349.19 · ORC 1347.05

And the one that works in your favour

The Ohio Data Protection Act, SB 220, codified at ORC Chapter 1354, provides an affirmative defense in tort against data breach claims for a business that implements and conforms to a recognised cybersecurity framework — NIST SP 800-53, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO 27000, or CIS Controls.

Documented media sanitization is part of conforming to those frameworks. In Ohio, doing this properly is not only risk reduction. It is a statutory defense.

Sources: ORC Chapter 1354 · Ohio EPA, Electronic Equipment Guidance

Ohio EPA. Hazardous waste compliance sits with the Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization; solid waste and recycling with the Division of Materials and Waste Management.

Ohio EPA does not certify electronics recyclers, and maintains its directory as information rather than endorsement — the list says so on its face.

Which is why third-party certification matters more in Ohio than in a state with a registry. There is no state list to check. The issuing registries are the only verification available.