SB3975 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 24551 CPF 33785 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB3975

Introduced 1/21/2022, by Sen. Laura M. Murphy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Beverage Container Deposit Act. Provides that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the State shall have a specified refund value. Provides that a consumer shall pay a nonrefundable fee when purchasing a beverage container not made of aluminum, glass, high density polyethylene plastic, or polyethylene terephthalate that covers the consumer's cost of sorting, transporting, and recycling. Requires all distributors and importers of a beverage in or into the State to join as members of a Producer Responsibility Organization, which must be established and operated as a nonprofit organization. Provides specified performance targets for the Organization. Provides that the Organization shall create an advisory committee with the opportunity to provide written or oral comments directly to the Board of Directors and President of the Organization at least twice a year and submit to the General Assembly once per calendar year a written report with specified requirements. Provides that the Environmental Protection Agency may impose specified civil penalties and criminal fines for violations of the Act. Contains requirements concerning means of redemption of beverage containers for retailers, labeling requirements, timing requirements, performance targets, reporting obligations, and other requirements. Contains other provisions.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Beverage Container Deposit Act.

Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Beverage" means a drinkable liquid intended for human oral consumption. "Beverage" does not include the following:

(1) A drug regulated under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).

(2) Infant formula.

(3) A meal replacement liquid.

"Beverage container" means a prepackaged container of a beverage:

(1) made of any material, including glass, plastic, metal, carton, pouch, or aseptic packaging, such as a drink box, and multimaterial; and

(2) the volume of which is not more than one gallon.

"Consumer" means a person in the State who purchases a beverage in a beverage container for use or consumption.

"Distributor" means a person who engages in the sale of a beverage in a beverage container to a retailer in the State, including any manufacturer who engages in such sales.

"Importer" means a retailer or manufacturer who directly imports beverage containers into the State.

"Line breakage" means a defective or damaged beverage container most likely set aside and not meant for the market place.

"Member" means a distributor or importer who has joined the Organization and pays the applicable fees.

"Organization" means the Producer Responsibility Organization established under Section 45.

"Retailer" means a person or business in the State who engages in the sale of a beverage in a beverage container to a consumer.

"Reverse vending machine" means a device designed to properly identify and process empty beverage containers and provide a means for a deposit refund on returnable beverage containers.

Section 10. Applicable refund value.

(a) Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the State shall have the following refund value:

(1) Ten cents for a beverage container under 24 fluid ounces; or

(2) Fifteen cents for a beverage container of 24 fluid ounces or more.

(b) The Agency may change the refund value by either:

(1) the Agency, in consultation with the Organization, deciding to change the minimum refund amount in a material-neutral way; or

(2) the Agency receiving a request from the Organization for a change in the refund amount and deciding it is an appropriate change.

(c) The Agency shall not change the refund value via the means described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) more than one time in any 10-year period.

(d) The Agency shall not change the refund value via the means described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) more than one time in any 5-year period.

(e) Prior to any change in the refund value described in subsection (b), the Agency must undergo a notice and comment review period with at least 60 days' notice of the change.

(f) If the Organization's publicly reported redemption rate required under Section 25 shows that the redemption rate does not reach 85% for 3 years in a row after being required to reach this performance target per Section 50, then every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the State shall have the following refund value:

(1) Fifteen cents for a beverage container under 24 fluid ounces.

(2) Twenty cents for a beverage container of 24 fluid ounces or more.

(g) Any refunds not redeemed by consumers are funds the Organization shall use to support its administrative costs and to perform the activities required under this Act.

Section 15. Container recycling fee.

(a) A consumer shall pay a nonrefundable fee, determined by the Organization under subsection (c), when purchasing a beverage container not made of aluminum, glass, high density polyethylene plastic, or polyethylene terephthalate that covers the consumer's cost of sorting, transporting, and recycling.

(b) The Organization may impose a nonrefundable fee for beverage containers in addition to the fee specified in subsection (a).

(c) The Organization shall determine the necessary nonrefundable fee for each beverage container type that defrays the cost of sorting, transporting, and recycling each beverage container type.

(d) The Organization may stop charging a container recycling fee for any beverage container for which a fee is charged under subsection (a) once there is sufficient economic value and end-markets to support all or most of the cost of sorting, transporting, and recycling a beverage container type.

(e) A retailer must make the nonrefundable fee described in subsection (a) visible on the receipt provided to the consumer.

Section 20. Material flows.

(a) When a consumer redeems a beverage container for the applicable refund value described in Section 10 via the means described in Section 25, the Organization becomes the owner of the beverage container and may sell it to the end-market of its choosing.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Organization must transfer 10% of the scrap value of a beverage container to the Agency for the 5 years after beverage containers start to be sold in the State with the applicable refund value described in Section 10 that the Agency must use to support the collection of household recyclables, including direct payments to household recycling collection operators and household recycling education efforts.

Section 25. Means of redemption.

(a) A retailer with a retail space equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet must:

(1) accept a beverage container and pay the applicable refund value described in Section 10 for up to 250 beverage containers per person per day;

(2) permit the Organization to operate a bag drop program in its parking lot by providing space of the retailer's choosing within its parking lot sufficient to operate a bag drop as described in subsection (h); or

(3) if the retailer has fewer than 30 parking spots under its control, permit the Organization to install, maintain, and service at least 2 reverse vending machines.

(b) A retailer with a retail space of more than 1,000 square feet and less than 5,000 square feet must:

(1) accept a beverage container and pay the applicable refund value described in Section 10 for up to 50 beverage containers per person per day;

(2) permit the Organization to operate a bag drop program in its parking lot by providing space of the retailer's choosing within its parking lot sufficient to operate a bag drop as described in subsection (h); or

(3) if the retailer has fewer than 30 parking spots under its control, permit the Organization to install, maintain, and service at least one reverse vending machine.

(c) A retailer with a retail space of 1,000 square feet or less and who sells more than 1,000,000 beverage containers per year must:

(1) accept a beverage container and pay the applicable refund value described in Section 10 for up to 25 beverage containers per person per day;

(2) permit the Organization to operate a bag drop program in its parking lot by providing space of its choosing within its parking lot sufficient to operate a bag drop as described in subsection (h); or

(3) if the retailer has fewer than 30 parking spots under its control, permit the Organization to install, maintain, and service at least one reverse vending machine.

(d) A retailer with a retail space of 1,000 square feet or less and sells less than 1,000,000 beverage containers per year has no duty under this Act except as detailed in subsections (e) and (f).

(e) Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (d), a retailer who has at least 10,000 people living within a 3-mile radius of the retailer must permit the Organization to install, maintain, and service at least one reverse vending machine.

(f) Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (d), a retailer shall:

(1) offer for sale the standard bags that the Organization deems necessary to operate the bag drop programs detailed in this Section;

(2) permit the Organization to install, service, and operate a reverse vending machine in space controlled by the retailer; and

(3) permit the Organization to install, service, and operate a self-service kiosk that allows for the printing of redemption vouchers.

(g) The following retailers do not need to comply with the requirements of this Section regarding means of redemption:

(1) A business that primarily prepares food for sale.

(2) A person or business who sells beverage containers to consumers through stand-alone vending machines or similar means.

(h) Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (f), for zip codes with a greater population density than 30,000 residents per square mile in the State, the Organization must ensure that all residents in the applicable zip code are within 2 miles of a bag drop redemption location and must build, service, and operate its own bag drop redemption locations as necessary.

(i) Any facility that the Organization sets up in the State to efficiently aggregate, sort, and process the material collected at various redemption locations:

(1) shall accept unlimited amounts of beverage containers eligible for redemption submitted in the standard bag determined by the Organization from organizations established and operated as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or as nonprofit organizations pursuant to the tax law of the State; and

(2) may provide these organizations a premium as determined by the Organization.

(j) The means of redemption required by this Section shall be available to the public for not less than 10 hours each day, except for a federal, State, or local holiday.

(k) The Organization must provide on its website, and on clearly visible signs at least 10 feet by 10 feet at redemption locations described in this Section, information on how consumers can alert the Organization to problems at redemption locations.

Section 30. Labeling.

(a) A manufacturer, importer, or distributor of a beverage container that is sold in the State shall include on the top lid or on the side or body of the beverage container, anywhere clearly visible, a standardized mark developed by the Organization that indicates to the consumer that the beverage container is redeemable for the applicable refund value described in Section 10.

(b) An Organization may require any manufacturer, importer, or distributor of a beverage container that is sold in the State to include a barcode or unique code verification on the beverage container to allow for automated identification.

Section 35. Timing.

(a) All beverage containers sold in the State must have the applicable refund value stated in Section 10 no later than 3 years after the effective date of this Act.

(b) All beverage containers subject to the container recycling fee described in Section 15 shall be sold with the container recycling fee no later than 4 years after the effective date of this Act.

(c) The Agency may permit up to 365 additional days for the deadlines required under this Section.

Section 40. Prohibitions.

(a) It is unlawful to distribute, import, or sell beverage containers in commerce in the State except in compliance with this Act.

(b) It is unlawful to redeem a beverage container in the State that was not sold to the consumer in the State.

Section 45. Producer Responsibility Organization.

(a) All distributors and importers of a beverage in or into the State shall establish and join the Producer Responsibility Organization as members. The Organization must be established and operated as a nonprofit organization.

(b) Only one Organization is permitted to operate in the State. The Organization may decide to operate jointly with similar organizations in one or more other states.

(c) The Organization shall charge a fee to members, based upon the amount of their beverage containers sold in the State, that funds the Organization's costs of operations minus unredeemed deposits, container recycling fees, or any other revenue sources that the Organization may develop.

The Organization shall vary the fee charged to each member based upon the relative cost to manage the beverage containers each member distributes or sells in the State.

The Organization shall refund to its members the proceeds of selling redeemed beverage containers based upon the relative scrap value of the beverage containers each member distributes or sells in the State.

(d) The Organization shall pay for the following:

(1) The installation, maintenance, and operation of redemption in the parking lots of retailers, as described in Section 25, for programs that permit consumers to drop off bags with beverage containers eligible for redemption and get paid the appropriate redemption value electronically.

(2) The installation, maintenance, and operation of reverse vending machines at retailers described in Section 25.

(3) The installation, maintenance, and operation of self-service kiosks at retailers described in paragraph 3 of subsection (f) of Section 25.

(4) The building, service, and operation of bag drop locations necessary to provide adequate access to certain zip codes as described in subsection (h) of Section 25.

(5) Any facility in the State necessary to efficiently aggregate, sort, and process the material collected at various redemption locations.

(6) The upkeep of a list and map on the Organization's website of all redemption locations and what redemption options are available at each location.

(e) The Organization may:

(1) Use funds generated from this Act and otherwise to give grants for:

(A) litter clean-up; and

(B) education and outreach on the recycling of beverage containers or nonbeverage containers.

(2) Give funds to its members in a fiscal year in which its revenues exceed the cost of carrying out the requirements of this Act by more than 50%. The funds given to members must not cause revenue to go below greater than 150% of the cost of carrying out the requirements of this Act.

Section 50. Organization performance targets.

(a) The Organization shall meet the following performance targets:

(1) At least a 75% redemption target for all beverage containers, starting 2 years after all beverage containers are sold in the State with the applicable deposit value described in Section 10.

(2) at least an 85% redemption target for all beverage containers, starting 4 years after all beverage containers are sold in the State with the applicable deposit value described in Section 10.

(3) at least a 90% redemption target for all beverage containers, starting 6 years after all beverage containers are sold in the State with the applicable deposit value described in Section 10.

(b) If the Organization does not meet the performance targets detailed in subsection (a), it must submit to the Agency a product stewardship plan no more than 365 days after the publication of the public data required under Section 55 shows that the performance targets in subsection (a) were not met and detailing the actions the Organization will take to meet the performance targets detailed in subsection (a).

(c) If, 3 years after submission of the product stewardship plan described in subsection (b), the performance targets described in subsection (a) have not been met, then the Agency may:

(1) fine the Organization up to $250 per day that the targets are not met; and

(2) require the Organization to submit a revised product stewardship plan.

(d) If, 5 years after submission of the product stewardship plan described in subsection (b), the performance targets described in subsection (a) have not been met, then the Agency may take over the Organization's operations and charge its members in accordance with subsection (c) until the performance targets of subsection (a) are met, and then shall transfer leadership of the Organization back to the Organization within 180 days after achieving the performance targets of subsection (a).

Section 55. Reporting.

(a) By July 1 of each calendar year, the Organization shall make the following publicly available on its website:

(1) The number of beverage containers sold in the State by material type for each quarter of the year covered by the report and the quarters of each prior year.

(2) The number of beverage containers redeemed by material type for each quarter of the year covered by the report and the quarter of each prior year.

(3) The number of beverage containers redeemed at each bag drop location, reverse vending machine, or other redemption location that the Organization operates.

(4) The end-markets to which the Organization sells beverage containers.

(5) The percent of the total amount sold of each material type of beverage container that went to each end-market.

(6) All redemption locations in the State.

(7) The means of redemption at each location in the State.

(8) The total expenses of the Organization.

(9) The number of consumer complaints per month by redemption location for the previous calendar year and each prior year.

(10) The total number of individual consumers per month that filed complaints, by redemption location, for the previous calendar year and each prior year.

(b) The Agency may require the Organization to have an independent third party verify the numbers disclosed under subsection (a) with the following requirements:

(1) The Agency shall notify the Organization by August 1 that it is requiring an independent third-party review.

(2) The Organization shall have until December 31 to conduct the independent third-party review.

(c) The Organization must establish safeguards to ensure that its members do not have access to nor see information regarding:

(1) the price paid for the material sold by any individual buyer; and

(2) how much of each material went to each individual recycler.

Section 60. Advisory committee.

(a) The Organization shall establish an advisory committee that represents a range of interested and engaged persons, including, at a minimum, one of each of the following:

(1) Beverage container manufacturers or their trade associations.

(2) Beverage producers or their trade associations.

(3) Local government.

(4) Environmental nonprofit organizations.

(5) End-markets that buy or recycle beverage containers from the Organization.

(6) Retailers or their trade associations.

(b) The advisory committee shall:

(1) have the opportunity to provide written or oral comments directly to the Board of Directors and President of the Organization at least twice a year;

(2) submit to the General Assembly once per calendar year a written report with:

(A) its feedback on the operation of the Organization; and

(B) its feedback on the deposit return system generally; and

(3) have each of its written reports to the General Assembly published on the Organization's website.

Section 65. Reimbursement. The Organization shall reimburse the Agency for costs incurred by the Agency under this Act.

Section 70. Enforcement.

(a) In addition to any other applicable civil penalty or criminal fine, the Agency may impose a civil penalty for a violation of this Act of $100 for each initial separate violation and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent separate violation per day.

(b) A person who, with intent to defraud, knowingly takes any of the following actions is guilty of a crime:

(1) Redeems out-of-state containers, rejected containers, line breakage, or containers that have already been redeemed.

(2) Returns redeemed containers to the State marketplace for redemption.

(3) Brings out-of-state containers, rejected containers, or line breakage to the State marketplace for redemption.

(c) If the money obtained pursuant to subsection (b):

(1) equals or is less than $950, the person is subject to punishment by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 6 months, by a criminal fine not exceeding $1,000, or both; or

(2) exceeds $950, a person convicted of a crime pursuant to paragraph (1) is subject to punishment by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, by a criminal fine not exceeding $10,000, or both.

(d) The Agency may bring a civil action to enjoin the distribution, importation, or sale into the State of a beverage sold in a beverage container in violation of this Act.

(e) The Agency may fine the Organization up to $30,000 annually per redemption location that receives complaints from more than 50 individuals per month in the public reporting required under Section 55.

(f) All civil penalties and criminal fines the Agency recovers under this Section shall only be used to:

(1) administer this Act;

(2) build infrastructure that enhances recycling in the State;

(3) conduct outreach and education activities focused on recycling in the State;

(4) perform litter clean-ups in the State; or

(5) support collection of recyclable material at the household or in public spaces.