Christopher Cabaldon

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a beverage manufacturer to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a processing fee for each beverage container, as defined, sold or transferred in this state. The act requires the department to deposit the fee into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. The act requires the department to pay processing payments to processors and recycling centers from the fund, as specified. The act requires the processing payment to be at least equal to the difference between the scrap value of the beverage containers and the sum of certain actual operational costs for certified recycling centers and a reasonable financial return for recycling centers, as specified. The act requires the processing fee to be 65% of the processing payment, except as specified.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the department, in calculating the processing fee for a beverage container that is a box, bladder, pouch, or similar container containing wine or distilled spirits, establish the processing fee at a level that does not impose an economic burden on beverage manufacturers and generates sufficient funds to make processing payments to recyclers, as specified.