Beverage container recycling.

Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state have a minimum refund value. Existing law imposes specified reporting requirements on certain parties, including manufacturers and processors in connection with the act. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2017, require every manufacturer of a beverage sold in a plastic beverage container to demonstrate to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery that each type of plastic beverage container sold in this state contains, on average, not less than 10 percent postfilled material. Existing law requires the department to calculate a processing fee and a processing payment for any type of empty beverage container with a refund value less than the cost of recycling in accordance with a specified formula. The department is prohibited from imposing a processing fee on certain plastic beverage containers labeled with a "1" called PET beverage containers, if a willing purchaser offers to purchase empty PET containers at a voluntary artificial scrap value that is equal to the processing fee, as specified. This bill would delete the provisions prohibiting the department from imposing a processing fee on PET beverage containers for which there is such a willing purchaser. Existing law requires the department to reduce the processing fee paid by beverage manufacturers based on the recycling rate of the container, subject to specified requirements and the availability of funds. This bill would prohibit the department from reducing the processing fee requirements for any beverage manufacturer for any beverage container sold in the state unless the beverage manufacturer demonstrates to the department that the beverage container is manufactured at a facility that meets or exceeds a certain percentage of recycled content, regardless of whether the container is manufactured in the state.