I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4238 
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 
NOVEMBER 15, 2007 
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 
Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LORETTA 
SANCHEZ of California, Ms. LEE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. DEFAZIO, and 
Mr. STARK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and 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 ‘‘Bottle Recycling Cli-
mate Protection Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The energy required to manufacture bev-
erage containers from recycled containers is often 
less than the energy required to create new beverage 
container materials from raw materials. 
(2) Recycling beverage containers would reduce 
municipal solid waste and reduce the energy and 
heat-trapping emissions generated in the manufac-
ture of new aluminum, plastics, and other beverage 
container materials. 
(3) An average of 350,000,000 beverage bottles 
and cans are sent to landfills, incinerated, or littered 
every day. 
(4) 
In 
2006, 
less 
than 
half 
of 
the 
100,000,000,000 aluminum beverage cans purchased 
were recycled, resulting in the waste of 800,000 tons 
of aluminum. Nine of ten plastic water bottles, 
30,000,000 bottles a year, end up as garbage or lit-
ter, where they take up to 1,000 years to bio-
degrade. 
(5) A national system for requiring a refund 
value on the sale of all beverage containers would 
provide 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 and environmental dangers associated 
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with solid waste management and container manu-
facturing. 
(6) States with bottle bills have container recy-
cling rates ranging from 60 percent to over 90 per-
cent, compared to the national average recycling rate 
of 34 percent. 
(7) A national system of beverage container re-
cycling is consistent with the intent of the Solid 
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—The Solid Waste Disposal Act 
(42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amended by adding the fol-
lowing new subtitle at the end thereof: 
‘‘Subtitle K—Beverage Container 
Recycling 
‘‘SEC. 12001. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘For purposes of this subtitle— 
‘‘(1) The term ‘beverage’ means water, mineral 
water, soda water, flavored water, sports drinks, 
juice, iced tea, wine cooler, beer or other malt bev-
erage, or a carbonated nonalcoholic beverage of any 
variety in liquid form intended for human consump-
tion, but does not include milk or other dairy prod-
ucts or dairy-derived products. 
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‘‘(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. 
‘‘(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, but does not 
include a person who sells or offers to sell the bev-
erages for consumption on the premises. 
‘‘(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 8 percent alcohol (by volume), con-
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sisting of wine and plain, sparkling, or carbonated 
water and containing any one or more of the fol-
lowing: nonalcoholic beverage, flavoring, coloring 
materials, fruit juices, fruit adjuncts, sugar, carbon 
dioxide, 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 5 cents. 
The Administrator shall promulgate rules establishing 
uniform standards for the size and location of the refund 
value statement on beverage containers. The 5 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 
in interstate commerce to a consumer by a beverage re-
tailer, the retailer shall collect from the consumer the 
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amount of the refund value shown on the container. No 
person other than the persons described in this section 
may collect a deposit on a beverage container. 
‘‘SEC. 12004. RETURN OF REFUND VALUE. 
‘‘(a) PAYMENT BY RETAILER.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), if any person tenders for refund an empty 
and unbroken beverage container to a beverage re-
tailer who sells (or has sold at any time during the 
period of 3 months ending on the date of such ten-
der) the same brand of beverage in the same kind 
and size of container, the retailer shall promptly pay 
such person the amount of the refund value stated 
on the container. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—A retailer shall not be re-
quired to accept tender of a beverage container 
under paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(A) if the beverage container contains or 
is contaminated by a hazardous waste; 
‘‘(B) in excess of 600 individual beverage 
containers per day if the retailer occupies a 
space less than 5,000 square feet; or 
‘‘(C) in excess of 1,800 individual beverage 
containers per day if the retailer occupies a 
space greater than 5,000 square feet. 
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‘‘(b) PAYMENT
BY DISTRIBUTOR.—If any person 
tenders for refund an empty and unbroken beverage con-
tainer to a beverage distributor who sells (or has sold at 
any time during the period of 3 months ending on the 
date of such tender) the same brand of beverage in the 
same kind and size of container, the distributor shall 
promptly pay such person (1) the amount of the refund 
value stated on the container, plus (2) an amount equal 
to at least 3 cents per container to help defray the cost 
of handling. This subsection shall not preclude any person 
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. 
‘‘(d) BROKEN CONTAINERS.—The opening of a bev-
erage container in a manner in which it was designed to 
be opened and the compression of a beverage container 
made of metal or plastic shall not, for purposes of this 
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section, constitute the breaking of the container if the 
statement of the amount of the refund value of the con-
tainer is still readable. 
‘‘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 programs designed to reduce green-
house gas emissions within the 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. 
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