[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6531 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6531

  To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require a refund value for 
    certain beverage containers, and to provide resources for State 
  pollution prevention and recycling programs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2012

  Mr. Markey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require a refund value for 
    certain beverage containers, and to provide resources for State 
  pollution prevention and recycling programs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bottle Recycling Climate Protection 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The energy required to manufacture beverage containers 
        from recycled containers is often less than the energy required 
        to create new beverage container materials from raw materials.
            (2) Recycling beverage containers would reduce municipal 
        solid waste and reduce the energy and heat-trapping emissions 
        generated in the manufacture of new aluminum, plastics, and 
        other beverage container materials.
            (3) An average of 350,000,000 beverage bottles and cans are 
        sent to landfills, incinerated, or littered every day.
            (4) In 2006, less than half of the 100,000,000,000 aluminum 
        beverage cans purchased were recycled, resulting in the waste 
        of 800,000 tons of aluminum. Nine of ten plastic water bottles, 
        at least 27,000,000,000 bottles a year, end up as garbage or 
        litter, where they take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
            (5) A national system for requiring a refund value on the 
        sale of all beverage containers would provide a positive 
        incentive to individuals to clean up the environment, and would 
        result in a high level of reuse and recycling of such 
        containers and help reduce the costs and environmental dangers 
        associated with solid waste management and container 
        manufacturing.
            (6) Many Americans do not have access to recycling 
        programs. States that combine container deposit incentives with 
        convenient redemption locations have beverage container 
        recycling rates ranging from 65 percent to over 90 percent. 
        This is significantly higher than the average recycling rates 
        of 35 percent for aluminum cans, 14 percent for plastic 
        bottles, and 12 percent for glass bottles in States without 
        container deposit systems.
            (7) Many domestic industries are dependent on recycled 
        steel, aluminum, glass and paper. A container deposit system 
        would yield greater access for recyclers to high grade 
        recycling products, preventing these industries from 
        competitive disadvantages in international recycling.
            (8) States with bottle bills have container recycling rates 
        ranging from 60 percent to over 90 percent, compared to the 
        national average recycling rate of 34 percent.
            (9) A national system of beverage container recycling is 
        consistent with the intent of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
        U.S.C. 6901 et seq.).

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.

    (a) Amendment.--The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et 
seq.) is amended by adding the following new subtitle at the end 
thereof:

               ``Subtitle K--Beverage Container Recycling

``SEC. 12001. DEFINITIONS.

    ``For purposes of this subtitle--
            ``(1) The term `beverage' means an alcoholic or non-
        alcoholic, carbonated or uncarbonated liquid that is intended 
        for human consumption.
            ``(2) The term `beverage container' means a container 
        constructed of metal, glass, plastic, or some combination of 
        these materials and having a capacity of up to one gallon of 
        liquid and which is or has been sealed and used to contain a 
        beverage for sale in interstate commerce.
            ``(3) The term `beverage distributor' means a person who 
        sells or offers for sale in interstate commerce to beverage 
        retailers beverages in beverage containers for resale.
            ``(4) The term `beverage manufacturer' means a person who 
        manufactures and sells or offers for sale in interstate 
        commerce to beverage distributors or beverage retailers 
        beverages in beverage containers for resale.
            ``(5) The term `beverage retailer' means a person who 
        purchases from a beverage distributor beverages in beverage 
        containers for sale to a consumer or who sells or offers to 
        sell in commerce beverages in beverage containers to a 
        consumer, but does not include a person who sells or offers to 
        sell the beverages for consumption on the premises.
            ``(6) The term `deposit initiator' means a person who is a 
        beverage manufacturer, beverage importer or beverage 
        distributor, the domestic beverage manufacturer or the first 
        domestic entity selling the beverage to the retailer.
            ``(7) The term `consumer' means a person who purchases a 
        beverage container for any use other than resale.
            ``(8) The term `refund value' means the amount specified as 
        the refund value of a beverage container under section 12002.
            ``(9) The term `recovery for beverage containers' includes 
        both beverage containers and other containers that are made of 
        beverage container materials.

``SEC. 12002. REQUIRED BEVERAGE CONTAINER LABELING.

    ``Except as otherwise provided in section 12007, no beverage 
distributor or beverage retailer may sell or offer for sale in 
interstate commerce a beverage in a beverage container unless there is 
clearly, prominently, and securely affixed to, or printed on, the 
container a statement of the refund value of the container in the 
amount of 5 cents. The Administrator shall promulgate rules 
establishing uniform standards for the size and location of the refund 
value statement on beverage containers. The 5-cent amount specified in 
this section shall be subject to adjustment by the Administrator as 
provided in section 12008.

``SEC. 12003. ORIGINATION OF REFUND VALUE.

    ``For each beverage in a beverage container sold in interstate 
commerce to a beverage retailer by a deposit initiator, the distributor 
shall collect from the retailer the amount of the refund value shown on 
the container. With respect to each beverage in a beverage container 
sold in interstate commerce to a consumer by a beverage retailer, the 
retailer shall collect from the consumer the amount of the refund value 
shown on the container. No person other than the persons described in 
this section may collect a deposit on a beverage container.

``SEC. 12004. RETURN OF REFUND VALUE.

    ``(a) Payment by Retailer.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), if 
        any person tenders for refund an empty and unbroken beverage 
        container to a beverage retailer who sells (or has sold at any 
        time during the period of 3 months ending on the date of such 
        tender) the same brand of beverage in the same kind and size of 
        container, the retailer shall promptly pay such person the 
        amount of the refund value stated on the container.
            ``(2) Exceptions.--A retailer shall not be required to 
        accept tender of a beverage container from any person under 
        paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) if the beverage container contains or is 
                contaminated by a hazardous waste;
                    ``(B) in excess of 600 individual beverage 
                containers per day if the retailer occupies a space 
                less than 5,000 square feet; or
                    ``(C) in excess of 1,800 individual beverage 
                containers per day if the retailer occupies a space 
                greater than 5,000 square feet.
    ``(b) Payment by Distributor.--If any person tenders for refund an 
empty and unbroken beverage container to a beverage distributor who 
sells (or has sold at any time during the period of 3 months ending on 
the date of such tender) the same brand of beverage in the same kind 
and size of container, the distributor shall promptly pay such person 
(1) the amount of the refund value stated on the container, plus (2) an 
amount equal to at least 3 cents per container to help defray the cost 
of handling. This subsection shall not preclude any person from 
tendering beverage containers to persons other than beverage 
distributors.
    ``(c) Agreements.--(1) Nothing in this subtitle shall preclude 
agreements between distributors, retailers, or other persons to 
establish centralized or co-located beverage collection centers, 
including centers which act as agents of such retailers.
    ``(2) Nothing in this subtitle shall preclude agreements between 
beverage retailers, beverage distributors, or other persons for the 
crushing or bundling (or both) of beverage containers.
    ``(d) Broken Containers.--The opening of a beverage container in a 
manner in which it was designed to be opened and the compression of a 
beverage container made of metal or plastic shall not, for purposes of 
this section, constitute the breaking of the container if the statement 
of the amount of the refund value of the container is still readable.
    ``(e) Reports.--Deposit initiators shall provide annual reports to 
the Administrator or designated State agency documenting their rate of 
redemption.

``SEC. 12005. ACCOUNTING FOR UNCLAIMED REFUNDS AND PROVISIONS FOR STATE 
              RECYCLING FUNDS.

    ``(a) Unclaimed Refunds.--At the end of each fiscal quarter, each 
deposit initiator shall pay to each State an amount equal to the sum by 
which the total refund value of all containers sold by the deposit 
initiator for resale in that State during that year exceeds the total 
sum paid during that period by the initiator under section 12004(b) to 
persons in that State. The total of unclaimed refunds received by any 
State under this section shall be available to carry out programs 
designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the State, including 
but not limited to State and local recycling programs.
    ``(b) Refunds in Excess of Collections.--If the total of payments 
made by a deposit initiator in any calendar year under section 12004(b) 
for any State exceed the total refund value of all containers sold by 
the initiator for resale in that State, the excess shall be credited 
against the amount otherwise required to be paid by the initiator to 
that State under subsection (a) for a subsequent fiscal year quarter 
designated by the deposit initiator.

``SEC. 12006. PROHIBITIONS ON DISPOSAL.

    ``No retailer or distributor or agent of a retailer or distributer 
may intentionally dispose of any beverage container labeled under 
section 12002 or any metal, glass, or plastic from such a beverage 
container (other than the top or other seal thereof) in any landfill or 
other solid waste disposal facility.

``SEC. 12007. EXEMPTED STATES.

    ``(a) In General.--The provisions of sections 12002 through 12005 
and sections 12008 and 12009 of this subtitle shall not apply in any 
State which--
            ``(1) has adopted and implemented, before the date of 
        enactment of this subtitle, a law requiring beverage container 
        deposits;
            ``(2) demonstrates to the Administrator that, for any 
        period of 12 consecutive months following the date of enactment 
        of this subtitle, such State achieved a recycling or reuse rate 
        for beverage containers of at least--
                    ``(A) 50 percent for the first 3 years after the 
                date of enactment of this subtitle;
                    ``(B) 60 percent for the subsequent 2-year period; 
                and
                    ``(C) 70 percent during any period thereafter; or
            ``(3) has adopted and implemented a law requiring a 
        recovery rate of 70 percent within one year of enactment of 
        this subtitle. Such law shall require recertification of this 
        recovery rate every 3 years.
Paragraph (1) shall only apply with respect to the first 3 years after 
the date of enactment of this subtitle. If at any time following a 
determination under paragraph (2) that a State has achieved the 
applicable percentage recycling or reuse rate the Administrator 
determines that such State has failed, for any 12-consecutive-month 
period, to maintain at least the applicable percentage recycling or 
reuse rate of its beverage containers, the Administrator shall notify 
such State that, upon the expiration of the 90-day period following 
such notification, the provisions under sections 12002 through 12005 
and sections 12008 and 12009 shall be applicable to that State until a 
subsequent determination is made under subparagraph (A) or a 
demonstration is made under subparagraph (B).
    ``(b) Determination of Tax.--No State or political subdivision 
which imposes any tax on the sale of any beverage container may impose 
a tax on any amount attributable to the refund value of such container.
    ``(c) Effect on Other Laws.--Nothing in this subtitle shall be 
construed to affect the authority of any State or political subdivision 
thereof to enact or enforce (or continue in effect) any law respecting 
a refund value on containers other than beverage containers or from 
regulating redemption and other centers which purchase empty beverage 
containers from beverage retailers, consumers, or other persons.

``SEC. 12008. REGULATIONS.

    ``Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this 
subtitle, the Administrator shall prescribe regulations to carry out 
this subtitle. The regulations shall include a definition of the term 
`beverage retailer' in a case in which beverages in beverage containers 
are sold to consumers through beverage vending machines. Such 
regulations shall also adjust the 5-cent amount specified in section 
12002 and the 2-cent amount specified in section 12004 to account for 
inflation. Such adjustment shall be effective 10 years after the date 
of enactment of this subtitle and additional adjustments shall take 
effect at 10-year intervals thereafter. The regulations shall also 
permit the Administrator to increase such amounts by an additional 
amount after the expiration of 5 years after the date of enactment of 
this subtitle.

``SEC. 12009. PENALTIES.

    ``Any person who violates any provision of section 12002, 12003, 
12004, or 12006 shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than 
$1,000 for each violation. Any person who violates any provision of 
section 12005 shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than 
$10,000 for each violation.

``SEC. 12010. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    ``Except as provided in sections 12007 and 12008, this subtitle 
shall take effect 2 years after the date of its enactment.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for such Act is 
amended by adding the following at the end thereof:

               ``Subtitle K--Beverage Container Recycling

``Sec. 12001. Definitions.
``Sec. 12002. Required beverage container labeling.
``Sec. 12003. Origination of refund value.
``Sec. 12004. Return of refund value.
``Sec. 12005. Accounting for unclaimed refunds and provisions for State 
                            recycling funds.
``Sec. 12006. Prohibitions on disposal.
``Sec. 12007. Exempted States.
``Sec. 12008. Regulations.
``Sec. 12009. Penalties.
``Sec. 12010. Effective date.''.
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