An Act to update the bottle bill

1 of 1 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3764 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3464 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _________________ PRESENTED BY: Michelle L. Ciccolo _________________ To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled: The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: An Act to update the bottle bill. _______________ PETITION OF: NAME: DISTRICT/ADDRESS: DATE ADDED: Michelle L. Ciccolo 15th Middlesex 1/17/2025 Joanne M. Comerford Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester 1/23/2025 Lindsay N. Sabadosa 1st Hampshire 1/23/2025 Erika Uyterhoeven 27th Middlesex 5/22/2025 Leigh Davis 3rd Berkshire 5/22/2025 James C. Arena-DeRosa 8th Middlesex 5/23/2025 Samantha Montaño 15th Suffolk 6/26/2025 Natalie M. Higgins 4th Worcester 8/7/2025 James B. Eldridge Middlesex and Worcester 9/11/2025 Simon Cataldo 14th Middlesex 9/15/2025 James Arciero 2nd Middlesex 9/25/2025 Sally P. Kerans 13th Essex 11/4/2025 Margaret R. Scarsdale 1st Middlesex 1/15/2026 Nick Collins First Suffolk 1/20/2026 1 of 7 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3764 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3464 By Representative Ciccolo of Lexington, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3464) of Michelle L. Ciccolo, Joanne M. Comerford and Lindsay N. Sabadosa for legislation to update the bottle bill, so-called. Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _______________ In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court (2025-2026) _______________ An Act to update the bottle bill. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1 SECTION 1. Section 321 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 2 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the definitions of “Beverage”, and “Beverage 3 container”, and “Plastic Bottle” and inserting in place thereof the following definitions: 4 “Beverage container”, any prepackaged container designed to hold a beverage that is 5 made of any material, including glass, plastic, metal, or multi-material, the volume of which is 6 not less than 50 milliliters and not more than 2.5 liters for noncarbonated beverage containers 7 and not more than 3 liters for carbonated beverage containers. This definition shall not include 8 beverage container packaging that is a carton, a pouch, or aseptic packaging. 9 “Department”, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. 10 “Plastic bottle”, a plastic container that has a neck that is smaller than the body of the 11 container, accepts a screwtype, snap cap or other closure and has a capacity not less than 50 12 milliliters and not more than 3 liters. 2 of 7 13 “Recycle”, the series of activities by which a covered product is: (i) collected, sorted, and 14 processed; (ii) converted into raw materials with minimal loss of material quality; and (iii) used 15 in the production of a new beverage container or other product of comparable value to a 16 beverage container. 17 “Return and refill system”, a system within the beverage container deposit return system 18 under this Act by which glass beverage containers are collected for reuse, and refilled. 19 ‘’Reuseable beverage container’’, any beverage container so constructed and designed 20 that it is structurally capable of being refilled and resold by a bottler at least fifty times after its 21 initial use as part of a washing system that meets Commonwealth food and safety standards. 22 “Universal product code” or “UPC”, a standard for encoding a set of lines and spaces that 23 can be scanned and interpreted into numbers to identify a product; or any industry accepted 24 barcode used for product identification purposes in a manner similar to a UPC, including but not 25 limited to, a European Article Number. 26 SECTION 2. Section 322 of said chapter 94 is hereby amended, by striking out the word 27 “five” and inserting in place thereof the following figure: ten. The following sentence shall also 28 be added: "Beginning three years after the start date and every three years thereafter, the 29 Department shall evaluate whether the redemption targets set in section 326 have been met for a 30 given calendar year 90 days after the end of that calendar year. If the redemption targets in 31 section 326 have not been met, the Department shall increase the minimum refund value by an 32 additional five cents within 180 days." 33 SECTION 3. Section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby amended, in paragraph (b), by 34 striking after “any empty beverage container of the type,” the following: “size and brand sold by 3 of 7 35 the dealer within the past sixty days” and inserting “sold by the dealer, provided that the 36 beverage container is made of the same type of material as beverage containers otherwise sold by 37 the dealer”; and inserting after “returned” the following: “provided that this subsection shall not 38 apply to a dealer whose place of business is less than 2,000 square feet. A redemption center or 39 dealer shall pay the refund value at the time the beverage container is returned; and provided 40 further, that, at the request of a consumer, a redemption center or dealer may repay deposits 41 through an account system in which the amount of refund value is placed into an account to be 42 held for the benefit of the consumer and such account is funded in a manner that allows the 43 customer to obtain deposits due within 2 business days of the time of return.” 44 SECTION 4. Said section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby further amended, in paragraph 45 (c) striking after “handling fee” the following: “of at least one cent per container”; and inserting 46 thereafter the following: “The department shall set handling fee amounts for dealers and 47 redemption centers that for dealers covers the cost of operating the infrastructure necessary to 48 collect, sort, store, and transport the empty beverage containers to be recycled or refilled. The 49 handling fee for dealers shall be no less than 3.25 cents per container and for redemption centers 50 no less than 4 cents if a redemption center delivers containers to a distributor or processing 51 facility. The department shall monitor and track the location of points of redemption throughout 52 the commonwealth. Beginning two years after the Start Date, the department shall increase the 53 handling fee by 1 cent if: (i) costs to collect, sort, store and transport beverage containers has 54 substantially changes such that it has significantly impacted the ability for dealers and 55 redemption centers to offer clean, safe and convenient redemption services both across the 56 commonwealth as determined by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.” 4 of 7 57 SECTION 5. Said section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby further amended, in paragraph 58 (e), by striking out the word “of at least one cent per container." Said section 323 is further 59 amended by adding, after paragraph (i), the following paragraph: “(j) On and after January 1, 60 2026, each beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state that has a refund value 61 pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, shall include a Universal Product Code and barcode. 62 Each deposit initiator shall provide such Universal Product Code and barcode, with packaging 63 information, to the reverse vending machine system administrators and other system operators, 64 not less than thirty days prior to placement of any such beverage container on the market.” 65 SECTION 6. Section 325 of said Chapter 94 is hereby amended, in paragraph (b), by 66 striking out the word “five” and inserting in place thereof the following figure: 10 and the 67 language “beginning January 1, 2026, as established by the department under section 322 of this 68 chapter.” 69 SECTION 7.Section 326 of said Chapter 94 is hereby amended, in line 7, by inserting 70 after the word “sections” the following: “The secretary shall review handling fees as described in 71 Section 323. In reviewing the refund value, the following redemption and recycling rates shall be 72 met: “(1) by April 1, 2027, at least 65 percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed and 73 recycled; (2) by April 1, 2030, at least 75 percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed 74 and recycled; (3) by April 1, 2033, at least 85 percent of all beverage containers shall be 75 redeemed and recycled; and (4) by April 1, 2036 and every three years thereafter, at least 95 76 percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed and recycled.” and inserting thereafter the 77 following: “The Department shall require each producer of beverage containers to establish a 78 Return and Refill System so that: (1) 5 years after the start date, 25 per cent of beverage 5 of 7 79 containers are returned and refilled; (2) 15 years after the start date, 50 per cent of beverage 80 containers are returned and refilled.” 81 SECTION 8. Section 323D of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended 82 by striking out the third sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- “The 83 first $70 million in such amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue each fiscal year shall 84 be deposited in the General Fund and additional amounts collected by the commissioner of 85 revenue each fiscal year shall be deposited in the Clean Environment Fund established pursuant 86 to section 323G.” 87 SECTION 9. Said chapter 94 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by 88 inserting after section 323E the following section:- 89 Section 323G. (a) There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth a 90 separate fund to be known as the Clean Environment Fund. Amounts deposited in said fund shall 91 be used, subject to appropriation, solely for programs and projects in the management of solid 92 waste, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation; provided, however, that no 93 funds shall be used for costs associated with incineration. (b) Not less than forty percent of 94 amounts deposited in the Fund shall be used for recycling, composting and solid waste source 95 reduction projects and programs, including reuse and refill. (c) Not less than an additional ten 96 percent of amounts deposited in the Fund shall be used for recycling and other solid waste 97 projects and programs. (d) Not more than fifty percent of amounts deposited in the fund shall be 98 used for other environmental programs consistent with the purposes of the “bottle bill” so-called 99 including department administration and enforcement, including the provision of clean water and 100 sewer and improvements to storm water management. 6 of 7 101 SECTION 10 Said chapter 94 is hereby amended by inserting after section 323E the 102 following section: 103 “Section 323F. There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth a separate 104 fund to be known as the Clean Environment Fund. Amounts deposited in said fund shall be used, 105 subject to appropriation, solely for programs and projects in the management of solid waste and 106 for environmental protection, including, but not limited to: (i) reimbursing the department for all 107 costs incurred in administering, monitoring, and enforcing the beverage container deposit 108 system; (ii) grants or loans to redemption centers, dealers, or distributors for infrastructure and 109 improvements related to the beverage container deposit return program; (iii) infrastructure 110 related to reusable beverage container return and refill systems; and (iv) improvements to 111 drinking water, storm water, and wastewater systems; provided, however, that no funds shall be 112 used for costs associated with incineration.” 113 SECTION 11. Section 327 of Chapter 94 is hereby amended by striking “Any bottler, 114 distributor, redemption center or dealer who violates any provisions of section three hundred and 115 twenty-one to three hundred and twenty-six, inclusive, shall be subject to a civil penalty for each 116 violation of not more than one thousand dollars” and inserting instead, “Any person, distributors, 117 or dealers who violate the requirements of this act shall be subject to a fine for each violation and 118 for each day the violation occurs in the amount of not more than $10,000. Apart from any actions 119 undertaken by the attorney general and district attorneys, the Department may bring a civil action 120 to enjoin the sale, distribution, or importation into the United States of a beverage sold in a 121 beverage container in violation of this act. Any citizen of the Commonwealth may likewise bring 122 an action in court against any person, distributor, or the Department to enforce this subtitle, by 123 which they may recoup damages, attorney’s fees and other costs associated with bringing the 7 of 7 124 suit, and civil penalties that the distributor is required to pay as fines." Section 327 of Chapter 94 125 is further amended by inserting the following: “A distributor of a beverage container sold in the 126 state shall annually report to the Department: (1) The total amount of beverage containers sold, 127 offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior calendar year; (2) The amount of 128 single-use beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior 129 calendar year; (3) The amount of reusable beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or 130 distributed into the state during the prior calendar year; (4) A breakdown of the material type of 131 all beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior 132 calendar; and (5) Information regarding the quantity and final destination of redeemed beverage 133 containers during the prior calendar year. Any manufacturer of a beverage container sold in the 134 state shall include on the label of each beverage container: (1) A standardized description of the 135 applicable refund value in such a manner that it is clearly visible; and (2) A UPC barcode to 136 identify and validate participation in the program." 137 SECTION 12. This act shall take effect on December 31, 2025.