The House version, which passed the Senate 38-11 on Monday, is now headed to Gov. Chris Gregoire's desk.

Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, the bill's prime sponsor, said it was the result of 18 months of work by manufacturers, local governments, environmentalists and nonprofit organizations such as Goodwill Industries, which often must dispose of obsolete computers and TV sets dumped on their doorsteps.

Supporters said the measure, sponsored in the House by Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, will put Washington in the vanguard with states such as Maine and California that are addressing the challenge of recycling computers and television sets.

"This was the top priority for the Washington Environmental Council," said council outreach director Tom Geiger. "This will be the most extensive recycling program in the country."

Amendments added by the House made the bill stronger, Pridemore said. But he conceded that the final version did not please everyone.

"A small percentage of manufacturers did not agree with the funding mechanism," he said on the Senate floor Monday. Television manufacturers Panasonic, Sony and Sharp lobbied for a bill that would tax consumers at the retail point of purchase to pay for the collection, transportation and recycling of electronic materials.

Pridemore said sponsors of the bill met with dissenting manufacturers repeatedly, beginning in December, to address their objections. But in the end, the parties agreed to disagree. "We have a fundamental difference of opinion on how this fee is levied whether the manufacturer should pay the fee or the consumer at the point of sale should pay the fee," he said.

Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, urged defeat of the bill Monday, saying it needed more work to assure that it didn't penalize Washington electronics manufacturers while benefiting out-of-state companies.

"We shouldn't put those who have created jobs in the state of Washington at a disadvantage," he said. Panasonic and Sharp have operations in Clark County.

Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls, also opposed the bill. "It needs considerable refinement," he said. "It's been amended by both houses, it's been worked and worked, but it's simply too loosely written. It's going to be a stimulus for cross-border purchases."

Pridemore said the measure was written to apply broadly. "Is it possible that some manufacturer could get around this? Yes," he said. "But this bill has safeguards to prevent that."

He said the bill would be a "jobs producer," creating new jobs in product recycling.

The bill requires manufacturers or wholesalers of TVs and computers who sell their products in Washington to set up their own recycling programs or to take part in a statewide system that will establish collection points and recycling centers throughout the state.

They will be required to register with the Department of Ecology, which will review the programs and decide whether to approve them.

A newly created Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority will be set up to administer the statewide plan. Manufacturers will pay all the program costs. If they pass those costs on to consumers, they will be prohibited from also charging fees to collect or dispose of discarded products. At the end of a product's useful life, the owner will simply drop the product off at a collection center. Most computer manufacturers currently charge a fee to accept old computers.

Large retailers like Wal-Mart, which contract with foreign manufacturers to supply electronic products, will be required to register on behalf of those manufacturers in order to sell their products in Washington.

The measure, which will be phased in over three years, won support from the Washington Retail Association, Hewlett-Packard Co. and the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. Several conservation groups and the Seattle and Tacoma chapters of Goodwill Industries also supported the bill.

Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, is the fastest-growing kind of solid waste. The Department of Ecology estimates that between 2003 and 2010, more than 4.5 million computer processing units, 3.5 million cathode ray tube monitors and 1.5 million flat panel monitors will become obsolete in Washington. Some predict that the rise of digital television will cause millions of television sets to be discarded in coming years.

Computers contain lead, mercury and cadmium, heavy metals that can leach into the environment. Environmentalists hope that charging manufacturers a fee will encourage them to use fewer toxic materials in their products.

King, Snohomish and Pierce counties already ban computers and televisions from landfills. Clark County does not, because county residents have few options for disposing of them. There is a computer recycling program at the county's Jail Work Center on Lower River Road.