Recycling: plastic beverage containers: reporting.

Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state to have a minimum refund value. Under the act, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is required to calculate a processing fee for each beverage container with a specified scrap value, which is required to be paid by beverage manufacturers for each beverage container sold or transferred to a distributor or dealer. The act requires a manufacturer of a beverage sold in a plastic beverage container subject to the California Redemption Value to annually report to the department under penalty of perjury the amount of virgin plastic and postconsumer recycled plastic used by the manufacturer for plastic beverage containers subject to the California Redemption Value for sale in the state in the previous calendar year. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would require a reclaimer, on or before March 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, to report to the department under penalty of perjury the amount of empty plastic beverage containers that it collected, washed, and processed in the state in the previous calendar year into flake, pellet, sheet, or any other form and into food grade flake, pellet, or sheet, or any other food grade form. The bill would require the department to disseminate standardized forms for these reporting provisions and would require a manufacturer of a beverage sold in a plastic beverage container and a reclaimer to use those forms. By expanding the crime of perjury and creating new crimes relating to beverage containers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.