AN ACT EXPANDING THE BEVERAGE CONTAINER REDEMPTION PROVISIONS TO INCLUDE WATER BOTTLES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 22a-243 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):

For purposes of sections 22a-243 to 22a-245a, inclusive, as amended by this act:

(1) ["Beverage"] "Carbonated beverage" means beer or other malt beverages, [and mineral waters,] soda water and similar carbonated soft drinks in liquid form and intended for human consumption;

(2) "Noncarbonated beverage" means water, including mineral water, flavored water, nutritionally enhanced water and any beverage that is identified through the use of letters, words or symbols on such beverage's product label as a type of water, but excluding juice;

[(2)] (3) "Beverage container" means the individual, separate, sealed glass, [metal] aluminum or polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottle, can, jar or carton (A) two liters or less in size if containing a carbonated beverage, and (B) twenty ounces or less in size if containing a noncarbonated beverage;

[(3)] (4) "Consumer" means every person who purchases a beverage in a beverage container for use or consumption;

[(4)] (5) "Dealer" means every person who engages in the sale of beverages in beverage containers to a consumer;

[(5)] (6) "Distributor" means every person who engages in the sale of beverages in beverage containers to a dealer in this state including any manufacturer who engages in such sale and includes a dealer who engages in the sale of beverages in beverage containers on which no deposit has been collected prior to retail sale;

[(6)] (7) "Manufacturer" means every person bottling, canning or otherwise filling beverage containers for sale to distributors or dealers or, in the case of private label brands, the owner of the private label trademark, except "manufacturer" does not include any person who bottles and sells two hundred fifty thousand or fewer beverage containers of water each calendar year where such containers are twenty ounces or less in size;

[(7)] (8) "Place of business of a dealer" means the fixed location at which a dealer sells or offers for sale beverages in beverage containers to consumers;

[(8)] (9) "Redemption center" means any facility established to redeem empty beverage containers from consumers or to collect and sort empty beverage containers from dealers and to prepare such containers for redemption by the appropriate distributors;

(10) "Restaurant" means a business that has the sole purpose of preparing and selling food and beverages intended for individual portion service and includes the site at which individual portions are sold, regardless of whether the consumption of food or beverage occurs on or off of such site;

[(9)] (11) "Use or consumption" includes the exercise of any right or power over a beverage incident to the ownership thereof, other than the sale or the keeping or retention of a beverage for the purposes of sale;

[(10)] (12) "Nonrefillable beverage container" means a beverage container which is not designed to be refilled and reused in its original shape; [and]

[(11)] (13) "Deposit initiator" means the first distributor to collect the deposit on a beverage container sold to any person within this state;

(14) "Reverse vending machine" means an automated device that accepts beverage containers from redeemers and issues scrip for any beverage container refund value by using a laser scanner, microprocessor or other technology to recognize the Universal Product Code (UPC) or other accepted industry barcode on beverage containers to determine whether the container is redeemable, and that accumulates information regarding containers redeemed; and

(15) "Off-site redemption center" means a redemption center that is located within a one-mile radius of a dealer, and that accepts beverage containers of the kind, size and brand sold by such dealer at the dealer's place of business.

Sec. 2. Section 22a-244 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):

(a) Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state, except beverage containers sold or offered for sale for consumption on an interstate passenger carrier, shall have a refund value. Such refund value shall not be less than [five] ten cents and shall be a uniform amount throughout the distribution process in this state.

(b) Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state, except beverage containers sold or offered for sale for consumption on an interstate passenger carrier, shall clearly indicate by embossing or by a stamp or by a label or other method securely affixed to the beverage container (1) either the refund value of the container or the words "return for deposit" or "return for refund" or other words as approved by the Department of Environmental Protection and (2) either the word "Connecticut" or the abbreviation "Ct.", provided this subdivision shall not apply to glass beverage containers permanently marked or embossed with a brand name.

(c) No person shall sell or offer for sale in this state any metal beverage container (1) a part of which is designed to be detached in order to open such container, or (2) that is connected to another beverage container by a device constructed of a material which does not decompose by photodegradation, chemical degradation or biodegradation within a reasonable time after exposure to the elements.

Sec. 3. Section 22a-245 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):

(a) No person shall establish a redemption center without registering with the commissioner on a form provided by the commissioner with such information as the commissioner deems necessary including (1) the name of the business principals of the redemption center and the address of the business; (2) the name and address of the sponsors and dealers to be served by the redemption center; (3) the types of beverage containers to be accepted; (4) the hours of operation; and (5) whether beverage containers will be accepted from consumers. The operator of the redemption center shall report any change in procedure to the commissioner within forty-eight hours of such change. Any person establishing a redemption center shall have the right to determine what kind, size and brand of beverage container shall be accepted. Any redemption center may be established to serve all persons or to serve certain specified dealers.

(b) A dealer shall not refuse to accept at such dealer's place of business, from any person any empty beverage containers of the kind, size and brand sold by the dealer, or refuse to pay to such person the refund value of a beverage container [as established by subsection (a) of section 22a-244] unless (1) such container contains materials which are foreign to the normal contents of the container; [or unless] (2) such container is not labeled in accordance with subsection (b) of section 22a-244, as amended by this act; [or unless] (3) such dealer sponsors, solely or with others, a redemption center which is located within a one-mile radius of such place of business and which accepts beverage containers of the kind, size and brand sold by such dealer at such place of business; or [unless] (4) there is established by others, a redemption center which is located within a one-mile radius of such place of business and which accepts beverage containers of the kind, size and brand sold by such dealer at such place of business. A dealer that is a restaurant shall not be required to redeem any beverage container, the contents of which were not consumed on the premises of such restaurant. A dealer who sponsors an off-site redemption center shall post in a conspicuous location, within ten feet of the entrances and exits of such dealer's place of business, a notice stating the name, location, hours of operation and telephone number of the off-site redemption center. A dealer shall redeem an empty container of a kind, size or brand the sale of which has been discontinued by such dealer for not less than sixty days after the last sale by the dealer of such kind, size or brand of beverage container. Sixty days before such date, the dealer shall post, at the point of sale, notice of the last date on which the discontinued kind, size or brand of beverage container shall be redeemed.

(c) Any dealer operating a place of business of not less than seventy-five thousand square feet in size shall certify to the Department of Environmental Protection that its beverage container redemption capacity equals or exceeds seventy per cent of its sales capacity of redeemable beverage containers. On or after October 1, 2009, any dealer that establishes or significantly expands its place of business or redemption center, excluding an off-site redemption center, shall locate such redemption center not more than two hundred feet from the business' main entrance. Any dealer with a redemption center other than an off-site redemption center established prior to October 1, 2009, where such redemption facility is located more than two hundred feet from the business' main entrance shall post notices stating the location of such redemption center not more than ten feet from the business' entrances and exits.

[(c)] (d) A distributor shall not refuse to accept from a dealer or from an operator of a redemption center, located and operated exclusively within the territory of the distributor or whose operator certifies to the distributor that redeemed containers were from a dealer located within such territory, any empty beverage containers of the kind, size and brand sold by the distributor, or refuse to pay to such dealer or redemption center operator the refund value of a beverage container [as established by subsection (a) of section 22a-244] unless such container contains materials which are foreign to the normal contents of the container or unless such container is not labeled in accordance with subsection (b) of section 22a-244, as amended by this act. A distributor shall remove any empty beverage container from the premises of a dealer serviced by the distributor or from the premises of a redemption center sponsored by dealers serviced by the distributor, provided such premises are located within the territory of the distributor. The distributor or manufacturer shall pay the refund value to dealers in accordance with the schedule for payment by the dealer to the distributor for full beverage containers and shall pay such refund value to operators of redemption centers not more than twenty days after receipt of the empty container unless such refund value has already been paid by the manufacturer. For the purposes of this subsection, a redemption center shall be considered to be sponsored by a dealer if (1) the dealer refuses to redeem beverage containers and refers consumers to the redemption center, or (2) there is an agreement between the dealer and the operator of the redemption center requiring the redemption center to remove empty beverage containers from the premises of the dealer. A distributor shall redeem an empty container of a kind, size or brand of beverage container the sale of which has been discontinued by the distributor for not less than one hundred fifty days after the last delivery of such kind, size or brand of beverage container. Not less than one hundred twenty days before the last date such containers may be redeemed, the distributor shall notify such dealer who bought the discontinued kind, size or brand of beverage container that such distributor shall not redeem an empty beverage container of such kind, size or brand of beverage containers.

(e) A redemption center or dealer that uses reverse vending machines to redeem beverage containers shall use only a reverse vending accounting system that has been subjected to an agreed upon procedures review by an independent certified public accountant during the preceding twelve months.

[(d)] (f) In addition to the refund value of a beverage container, [as provided in subsection (a) of section 22a-244,] a distributor shall pay to any dealer or operator of a redemption center a handling fee of at least [one and one-half cents for each container of beer or other malt beverage and two] three cents for each beverage container [of mineral waters, soda water and similar carbonated soft drinks] returned for redemption. A distributor shall not be required to pay to a manufacturer the refund value of a nonrefillable beverage container.

[(e)] (g) (1) The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to implement the provisions of sections 22a-243 to 22a-245a, inclusive, as amended by this act. Such regulations shall include, but not be limited to, provisions for the redemption of beverage containers dispensed through automatic vending machines, the use of vending machines that dispense cash to consumers for redemption of beverage containers, scheduling for redemption by dealers and distributors and for exemptions or modifications to the labeling requirement of section 22a-244, as amended by this act.

(2) The regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection shall also include provisions creating a prescribed accounting system for the reimbursement of the refund value for a redeemed beverage container. The commissioner shall adopt written policies and procedures to implement the provisions creating such prescribed accounting system while in the process of adopting such policies and procedures in regulation form, and the commissioner shall print a notice of intention to adopt the regulations in the Connecticut Law Journal not later than twenty days prior to implementing such policies and procedures. The commissioner shall submit final regulations to implement such policies and procedures to the legislative regulation review committee not later than May 1, 2009, unless a later date is approved by a majority vote of the members present of said committee. Policies and procedures implemented pursuant to this subdivision shall be valid until (A) May 1, 2009, or, if applicable, the later date approved by said committee pursuant to this subdivision, or (B) the time that the proposed final regulations are adopted or disapproved by said committee, whichever is earlier.

(h) For the purposes of this section, "refund value" means the refund value established by subsection (a) of section 22a-244, as amended by this act.

Statement of Purpose:

To expand the beverage container redemption provisions to include water bottles, to raise the refund value of beverage containers to ten cents, to require dealers to provide certain information to distributors, to require redemption centers established or significantly expanded on or after October 1, 2009, to locate such center near the main entrance of the business, and to raise the handling fee for redemption centers to three cents for all beverage containers.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]