SB 674: Beverage containers: recycling: redemption payment and refund value.

Session Year: 2025-2026
House: Senate

Current Status:

In Progress

(2025-08-29: August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.)

Introduced

First Committee Review

First Chamber

Second Committee Review

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

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, 2026. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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.

The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 requires a retailer selling a covered electronic device in this state to collect from a consumer at the time of retail sale a covered electronic waste recycling fee, as specified. The act requires all charges collected pursuant to the act to be deposited into specified subaccounts within the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, and outlines certain other requirements related to the establishment, adjustment, and administration of the charge. Moneys in the account may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, for other specified purposes, including the administration of the act by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and to provide funding to DTSC to implement and enforce the hazardous waste control laws as they relate to covered electronic devices. The act expressly authorizes DTSC to enforce the act, and all regulations adopted pursuant to the act, through the hazardous waste control laws.This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the above provision regarding DTSC enforcement of the act through the hazardous waste control laws.

Discussed in Hearing