Relating to the redemption of beverage containers, providing civil penalties, and including effective date provisions

Under current law, a consumer may return an empty beverage container upon which a refund value has been paid to a dealer or a redemption center. When a distributor collects empty beverage containers from a dealer, dealer agent, or redemption center, the distributor reimburses the dealer, dealer agent, or redemption center the refund value plus a 1-cent handling fee for each empty beverage container. Current law also allows any person to establish a redemption center that serves a dealer if it is approved by the department of natural resources. Any person can also establish an unapproved redemption center. Under this bill, a dealer may choose to not accept beverage containers if the dealer enters into a contract with a dealer agent or redemption center who will accept beverage containers on the dealer’s behalf. A dealer may only enter such contract with a redemption center if the dealer’s place of business is in a county with a population of more than 30,000 and within miles of the redemption center or if the dealer’s place of business is in a county with a population of 30,000 or fewer and within miles of the redemption center. The bill amends the definition of “dealer agent” so that a dealer agent is not limited to soliciting or picking up empty beverage containers from a dealer. The bill allows a person to establish a redemption center by providing notice to the department. The bill also requires each beverage container to have a registered universal product code in a format required by the department. The bill creates civil enforcement procedures and penalties for a violation of the provisions of the bill, including a civil penalty of up to $2,500. The bill makes numerous changes throughout Code chapter 455C to change instances of “dealer” to “participating dealer”, remove obsolete language, and stylistically and grammatically update the Code chapter. The bill takes effect July 1, 2023.