Beverage container recycling: pilot program.

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is established to promote beverage container recycling and provides for the payment, collection, and distribution of certain payments and fees based on minimum refund values established for beverage containers. The act defines the terms "beverage" and "beverage container" for purposes of the act. The act requires the department to annually designate convenience zones and, until January 1, 2022, authorizes the department to approve up to 5 limited-term recycling pilot projects that are designed to improve redemption opportunities in unserved convenience zones. The act authorizes the department to issue probationary operation certificates to pilot project recyclers for not more than 3 years and makes those recyclers eligible to apply for handling fees from the department. The act makes these pilot project provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and repeals them on January 1, 2023. The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers inconvenience zones. This bill would authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a recycling pilot program for the collection and recycling of beverage containers. The bill would define the terms "beverage" and "beverage containers" for purposes of the pilot program to include certain beverage containers that are otherwise excluded for other purposes. The bill would make an appropriation by changing the terms and conditions under which the department is authorized to make payments from a continuously appropriated fund. The bill would require the recycling pilot program to include a requirement for a pilot project operator to submit to the department a pilot project plan with specified goals and elements, including that the pilot project operator provide the department with annual updates and a final report on or before April 1, 2026. The bill would require the department to review and approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a pilot project operator plan within a reasonable timeframe. The bill would require the department to annually include an update on the recycling pilot program in a specified report to the Legislature. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2026, and would repeal them on January 1, 2027. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.