I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1444
To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require a refund value for certain
beverage containers, and to provide resources for State pollution preven-
tion and recycling programs, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 6, 1995
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BROWN of California, Mrs. JOHNSON of Con-
necticut, Mr. PALLONE, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. FRANK of
Massachusetts, Mr. OLVER, and Mr. STUDDS) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on 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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Beverage
Container Reuse and Recycling Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The failure to reuse and recycle empty bev-
erage containers represents a significant and unnec-
essary waste of important national energy and mate-
rial resources.
(2) The littering of empty beverage containers
constitutes a public nuisance, safety hazard, and
aesthetic blight and imposes upon public agencies,
private businesses, farmers, and landowners unnec-
essary costs for the collection and removal of such
containers.
(3) Solid waste resulting from such empty bev-
erage containers constitutes a significant and rapidly
growing proportion of municipal solid waste and in-
creases the cost and problems of effectively manag-
ing the disposal of such waste.
(4) It is difficult for local communities to raise
the necessary capital needed to initiate comprehen-
sive recycling programs.
(5) The reuse and recycling of empty beverage
containers would help eliminate these unnecessary
burdens on individuals, local governments, and the
environment.
(6) Several States have previously enacted and
implemented State laws designed to protect the envi-
ronment, conserve energy and material resources
and promote resource recovery of waste by requiring
a refund value on the sale of all beverage containers,
and these have proven inexpensive to administer and
effective at reducing financial burdens on commu-
nities by internalizing the cost of recycling and litter
control to the producers and consumers of bev-
erages.
(7) A national system for requiring a refund
value on the sale of all beverage containers would
act as 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 re-
duce the costs associated with solid waste manage-
ment.
(8) A national system for requiring a refund
value on the sale of all beverage containers would re-
sult in significant energy conservation and resource
recovery.
(9) The reuse and recycling of empty beverage
containers would eliminate these unnecessary bur-
dens on the Federal Government, local and State
governments, and the environment.
(10) The collection of unclaimed refunds from
such a system would provide the resources necessary
to assist comprehensive reuse and recycling pro-
grams throughout the Nation.
(11) 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.).
(12) The provisions of this Act are consistent
with the goals set in January 1988, by the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, which establish a national
goal of 25 percent source reduction and recycling by
1992, coupled with a substantial slowing of the pro-
jected rate of increase in waste generation by the
year 2000.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.
(a) AMENDMENT.—The Solid Waste Disposal Act 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 beer or other
malt beverage, mineral water, soda water, wine cool-
er, or a carbonated soft drink of any variety in liq-
uid form 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. The opening of a
beverage container in a manner in which it was de-
signed to be opened and the compression of a bev-
erage 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.
‘‘(3) The term ‘beverage distributor’ means a
person who sells or offers for sale in interstate com-
merce to beverage retailers beverages in beverage
containers for resale.
‘‘(4) The term ‘beverage retailer’ means a per-
son who purchases from a beverage distributor bev-
erages in beverage containers for sale to a consumer
or who sells or offers to sell in commerce beverages
in beverage containers to a consumer.
‘‘(5) The term ‘consumer’ means a person who
purchases a beverage container for any use other
than resale.
‘‘(6) The term ‘refund value’ means the amount
specified as the refund value of a beverage container
under section 12002.
‘‘(7) The term ‘wine cooler’ means a drink con-
taining less than 7 percent alcohol (by volume), con-
sisting of wine and plain, sparkling, or carbonated
water and containing any one or more of the follow-
ing: non-alcoholic beverage, flavoring, coloring mate-
rials, fruit juices, fruit adjuncts, sugar, carbon diox-
ide, preservatives.
‘‘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 10 cents.
The Administrator shall promulgate rules establishing
uniform standards for the size and location of the refund
value statement on beverage containers. The 10 cent
amount specified in this section shall be subject to adjust-
ment 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 beverage
distributor, 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
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 beverage collec-
tion centers, including centers which act as agents of such
retailers.
‘‘(2) Nothing in this subtitle shall preclude agree-
ments between beverage retailers, beverage distributors, or
other persons for the crushing or bundling (or both) of
beverage containers.
‘‘SEC. 12005. ACCOUNTING FOR UNCLAIMED REFUNDS AND
PROVISIONS FOR STATE RECYCLING FUNDS.
‘‘(a) UNCLAIMED REFUNDS.—At the end of each cal-
endar year each beverage distributor shall pay to each
State an amount equal to the sum by which the total re-
fund value of all containers sold by the distributor for re-
sale in that State during that year exceeds the total sum
paid during that year by the distributor 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 pollution prevention and recycling
programs in that State.
‘‘(b) REFUNDS IN EXCESS OF COLLECTIONS.—If the
total of payments made by a beverage distributor in any
calendar year under section 12004(b) for any State exceed
the total refund value of all containers sold by the dis-
tributor for resale in that State, the excess shall be cred-
ited against the amount otherwise required to be paid by
the distributor to that State under subsection (a) for a
subsequent calendar year designated by the beverage dis-
tributor.
‘‘SEC. 12006. PROHIBITIONS ON DETACHABLE OPENINGS
AND POST-REDEMPTION DISPOSAL.
‘‘(a) DETACHABLE OPENINGS.—No beverage dis-
tributor or beverage retailer may sell, or offer for sale,
in interstate commerce a beverage in a metal beverage
container a part of which is designed to be detached in
order to open such container.
‘‘(b) POST-REDEMPTION DISPOSAL.—No retailer or
distributor or agent of a retailer or distributor may dis-
pose 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 sub-
title shall not apply in any State which—
‘‘(1) has adopted and implemented require-
ments applicable to all beverage containers sold in
that State which the Administrator determines to be
substantially identical to the provisions of sections
12002 through 12005 and sections 12008 and
12009 of this subtitle; or
‘‘(2) demonstrates to the Administrator that,
for any period of 12 consecutive months following
the date of the enactment of this subtitle, such State
achieved a recycling or reuse rate for beverage con-
tainers of at least 70 percent.
If at any time following a determination under paragraph
(2) that a State has achieved a 70 percent recycling or
reuse rate the Administrator determines that such State
has failed, for any 12-consecutive month period, to main-
tain at least a 70 percent recycling or reuse rate of its
beverage containers, the Administrator shall notify such
State that, upon the expiration of the 90-day period fol-
lowing such notification, the provisions under sections
12002 through 12005 and sections 12008 and 12009 shall
be applicable to that State until a subsequent determina-
tion 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 bev-
erage container may impose a tax on any amount attrib-
utable 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 reg-
ulating redemption and other centers which purchase
empty beverage containers from beverage retailers, con-
sumers, or other persons.
‘‘SEC. 12008. REGULATIONS.
‘‘Not later than 12 months after the 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 10 cent amount specified in section
12002 to account for inflation. Such adjustment shall be
effective 10 years after the enactment of this subtitle and
additional adjustments shall take effect at 10 year inter-
vals thereafter.
‘‘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 section 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 containers labeling.
‘‘Sec. 12003. Origination of refund value.
‘‘Sec. 12004. Return of refund value.
‘‘Sec. 12005. Accounting for unclaimed refunds and provisions for State recy-
cling funds.
‘‘Sec. 12006. Prohibitions on detachable openings and post-redemption disposal.
‘‘Sec. 12007. Exempted States.
‘‘Sec. 12008. Regulations.
‘‘Sec. 12009. Penalties.
‘‘Sec. 12010. Effective date.’’.
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