Amendment #650 to H5150

Saving Municipalities Money while Protecting the Environment

Representatives Ciccolo of Lexington, Khan of Newton, Vincent of Revere, Keefe of Worcester, Gentile of Sudbury, Higgins of Leominster, Lewis of Framingham, Provost of Somerville, Robinson of Framingham, Sabadosa of Northampton, Gouveia of Acton, Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose and Sena of Acton move to amend the bill by adding the following six sections:

SECTION XX. Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended in section 321 by striking the definitions of Beverage and Beverage Container, inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following definitions:-

"Beverage" The term ‘beverage’ means any drinkable liquid intended for human oral consumption. The term ‘beverage’ does not include—

(i) a drug regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.);

(ii) infant formula; or,

(iii) a meal replacement liquid.

“Beverage Container” The term ‘beverage container’ means a prepackaged beverage container—

(i) made of any material, including glass, plastic, metal, and multimaterial; and,

(ii) the volume of which is not more than 3 liters.

The term ‘beverage container’ does not include a covered product of any material used to sell a prepackaged beverage, such as—

(i) a carton;

(ii) a pouch; or

(iii) aspetic packaging, such as a drink box.

SECTION XX. Said section 321 of chapter 94, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Plastic bottle” the following definition:-

“Redemption rate”, the per cent rate of beverage containers that are redeemed for their deposits, as determined by the executive office of environmental affairs.

SECTION XX.Chapter 94 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking section 322 and replacing it with the following new section:-

Section 322. Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the commonwealth shall have a refund value of not less than ten cents. The provisions of this section shall not apply to such containers sold by a distributor for use by a common carrier in the conduct of interstate passenger service.

SECTION XX.Chapter 94 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking section 323D and replacing it with the following new section:-

Section 323D. By the tenth day of each month, each bottler or distributor shall turn over to the commissioner of revenue any deposit amounts deemed to be abandoned at the close of the preceding month, pursuant to section three hundred and twenty-three C. Such amounts may be paid from the Deposit Transaction Fund. Amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the commonwealth’s General Fund, except for 10% of the total, or $10 million, whichever is greater, shall be paid to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund Bureau of Waste Prevention and Solid Waste Management’s reduction and reuse programs and grants each year, and 10% of the total, or $10 million, whichever is greater, shall be paid to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund drinking water protection programs each year.

SECTION XX.Chapter 94 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 326 the following new section:-

Section 326A.(a) Beginning on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this law, the secretary of environmental affairs shall have the power to adjust the refund value.

(b) Upon passage of this section, the secretary shall establish a process for determining the redemption rate. The secretary may establish any guidelines or regulations necessary or expedient to determine this rate.

(b) Not later than the final day of June of each year, the secretary of environmental affairs shall determine the redemption rate for the previous calendar year.

(c) If the redemption rate for a given calendar year is found by the secretary to be less than 90%, the secretary shall increase the refund value by at least a nickel before December 31st of the following calendar year.

(d) At their discretion, the secretary may require an increased refund value for any beverage container.

SECTION XX. This act shall take effect on December 31, 2021.".

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #650 to H5150

Saving Municipalities Money while Protecting the Environment