AB 457: Beverage containers: recycling: redemption payment and refund value: annual redemption and processing fee payments.

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, a violation of which is a crime, requires a distributor of beverage containers, as defined, to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a monthly redemption payment for every beverage container sold or transferred, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The fund is continuously appropriated to, among other things, pay refund values and administrative fees to processors that receive empty beverage containers from recyclers. The act specifies that a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, containing wine or distilled spirits has a redemption payment and refund value of $0.25.

This bill would reduce the redemption payment and refund value for one of those wine or distilled spirit beverage containers, if it has a capacity of less than 24 fluid ounces, from $0.25 to $0.10, beginning January 1, 2025. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The act authorizes a distributor that displays a pattern of operation in compliance with the act and regulations adopted pursuant to the act, to the satisfaction of the department, to make a single annual payment of redemption payments. The act requires a beverage manufacturer to pay to the department a specified processing fee for each beverage container sold or transferred within 40 days of the sale, as provided. The act authorizes a beverage manufacturer that displays a pattern of operation in compliance with the act and regulations adopted pursuant to the act, to the satisfaction of the department, to make a single annual payment of processing fees, if the beverage manufacturer meets certain conditions.

This bill would additionally authorize a distributor who sells or transfers not more than 375,000 beverage containers annually, as specified, to make a single annual payment of redemption payments, except as provided. The bill would additionally authorize a beverage manufacturer who sells or transfers not more than 375,000 beverage containers annually, as specified, to make a single annual payment of processing fees, except as provided.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.