Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H3464 Compare Versions

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2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3764 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3464
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Michelle L. Ciccolo
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act to update the bottle bill.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Michelle L. Ciccolo15th Middlesex1/17/2025Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and Worcester1/23/2025Lindsay N. Sabadosa1st Hampshire1/23/2025 1 of 7
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3764 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3464
18	18	By Representative Ciccolo of Lexington, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3464) of
19	19	Michelle L. Ciccolo, Joanne M. Comerford and Lindsay N. Sabadosa for legislation to update the
20	20	bottle bill, so-called. Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.
21	21	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22	22	_______________
23	23	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
24	24	(2025-2026)
25	25	_______________
26	26	An Act to update the bottle bill.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
28	28	of the same, as follows:
29	29	1 SECTION 1. Section 321 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
30	30	2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the definitions of “Beverage”, and “Beverage
31	31	3container”, and “Plastic Bottle” and inserting in place thereof the following definitions:
32	32	4 “Beverage container”, any prepackaged container designed to hold a beverage that is
33	33	5made of any material, including glass, plastic, metal, or multi-material, the volume of which is
34	34	6not less than 50 milliliters and not more than 2.5 liters for noncarbonated beverage containers
35	35	7and not more than 3 liters for carbonated beverage containers. This definition shall not include
36	36	8beverage container packaging that is a carton, a pouch, or aseptic packaging.
37	37	9 “Department”, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
38	38	10 “Plastic bottle”, a plastic container that has a neck that is smaller than the body of the
39	39	11container, accepts a screwtype, snap cap or other closure and has a capacity not less than 50
40	40	12milliliters and not more than 3 liters. 2 of 7
41	41	13 “Recycle”, the series of activities by which a covered product is: (i) collected, sorted, and
42	42	14processed; (ii) converted into raw materials with minimal loss of material quality; and (iii) used
43	43	15in the production of a new beverage container or other product of comparable value to a
44	44	16beverage container.
45	45	17 “Return and refill system”, a system within the beverage container deposit return system
46	46	18under this Act by which glass beverage containers are collected for reuse, and refilled.
47	47	19 ‘’Reuseable beverage container’’, any beverage container so constructed and designed
48	48	20that it is structurally capable of being refilled and resold by a bottler at least fifty times after its
49	49	21initial use as part of a washing system that meets Commonwealth food and safety standards.
50	50	22 “Universal product code” or “UPC”, a standard for encoding a set of lines and spaces that
51	51	23can be scanned and interpreted into numbers to identify a product; or any industry accepted
52	52	24barcode used for product identification purposes in a manner similar to a UPC, including but not
53	53	25limited to, a European Article Number.
54	54	26 SECTION 2. Section 322 of said chapter 94 is hereby amended, by striking out the word
55	55	27“five” and inserting in place thereof the following figure: ten. The following sentence shall also
56	56	28be added: "Beginning three years after the start date and every three years thereafter, the
57	57	29Department shall evaluate whether the redemption targets set in section 326 have been met for a
58	58	30given calendar year 90 days after the end of that calendar year. If the redemption targets in
59	59	31section 326 have not been met, the Department shall increase the minimum refund value by an
60	60	32additional five cents within 180 days."
61	61	33 SECTION 3. Section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby amended, in paragraph (b), by
62	62	34striking after “any empty beverage container of the type,” the following: “size and brand sold by 3 of 7
63	63	35the dealer within the past sixty days” and inserting “sold by the dealer, provided that the
64	64	36beverage container is made of the same type of material as beverage containers otherwise sold by
65	65	37the dealer”; and inserting after “returned” the following: “provided that this subsection shall not
66	66	38apply to a dealer whose place of business is less than 2,000 square feet. A redemption center or
67	67	39dealer shall pay the refund value at the time the beverage container is returned; and provided
68	68	40further, that, at the request of a consumer, a redemption center or dealer may repay deposits
69	69	41through an account system in which the amount of refund value is placed into an account to be
70	70	42held for the benefit of the consumer and such account is funded in a manner that allows the
71	71	43customer to obtain deposits due within 2 business days of the time of return.”
72	72	44 SECTION 4. Said section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby further amended, in paragraph
73	73	45(c) striking after “handling fee” the following: “of at least one cent per container”; and inserting
74	74	46thereafter the following: “The department shall set handling fee amounts for dealers and
75	75	47redemption centers that for dealers covers the cost of operating the infrastructure necessary to
76	76	48collect, sort, store, and transport the empty beverage containers to be recycled or refilled. The
77	77	49handling fee for dealers shall be no less than 3.25 cents per container and for redemption centers
78	78	50no less than 4 cents if a redemption center delivers containers to a distributor or processing
79	79	51facility. The department shall monitor and track the location of points of redemption throughout
80	80	52the commonwealth. Beginning two years after the Start Date, the department shall increase the
81	81	53handling fee by 1 cent if: (i) costs to collect, sort, store and transport beverage containers has
82	82	54substantially changes such that it has significantly impacted the ability for dealers and
83	83	55redemption centers to offer clean, safe and convenient redemption services both across the
84	84	56commonwealth as determined by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.” 4 of 7
85	85	57 SECTION 5. Said section 323 of said chapter 94 is hereby further amended, in paragraph
86	86	58(e), by striking out the word “of at least one cent per container." Said section 323 is further
87	87	59amended by adding, after paragraph (i), the following paragraph: “(j) On and after January 1,
88	88	602026, each beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state that has a refund value
89	89	61pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, shall include a Universal Product Code and barcode.
90	90	62Each deposit initiator shall provide such Universal Product Code and barcode, with packaging
91	91	63information, to the reverse vending machine system administrators and other system operators,
92	92	64not less than thirty days prior to placement of any such beverage container on the market.”
93	93	65 SECTION 6. Section 325 of said Chapter 94 is hereby amended, in paragraph (b), by
94	94	66striking out the word “five” and inserting in place thereof the following figure: 10 and the
95	95	67language “beginning January 1, 2026, as established by the department under section 322 of this
96	96	68chapter.”
97	97	69 SECTION 7.Section 326 of said Chapter 94 is hereby amended, in line 7, by inserting
98	98	70after the word “sections” the following: “The secretary shall review handling fees as described in
99	99	71Section 323. In reviewing the refund value, the following redemption and recycling rates shall be
100	100	72met: “(1) by April 1, 2027, at least 65 percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed and
101	101	73recycled; (2) by April 1, 2030, at least 75 percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed
102	102	74and recycled; (3) by April 1, 2033, at least 85 percent of all beverage containers shall be
103	103	75redeemed and recycled; and (4) by April 1, 2036 and every three years thereafter, at least 95
104	104	76percent of all beverage containers shall be redeemed and recycled.” and inserting thereafter the
105	105	77following: “The Department shall require each producer of beverage containers to establish a
106	106	78Return and Refill System so that: (1) 5 years after the start date, 25 per cent of beverage 5 of 7
107	107	79containers are returned and refilled; (2) 15 years after the start date, 50 per cent of beverage
108	108	80containers are returned and refilled.”
109	109	81 SECTION 8. Section 323D of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended
110	110	82by striking out the third sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- “The
111	111	83first $70 million in such amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue each fiscal year shall
112	112	84be deposited in the General Fund and additional amounts collected by the commissioner of
113	113	85revenue each fiscal year shall be deposited in the Clean Environment Fund established pursuant
114	114	86to section 323G.”
115	115	87 SECTION 9. Said chapter 94 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
116	116	88inserting after section 323E the following section:-
117	117	89 Section 323G. (a) There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth a
118	118	90separate fund to be known as the Clean Environment Fund. Amounts deposited in said fund shall
119	119	91be used, subject to appropriation, solely for programs and projects in the management of solid
120	120	92waste, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation; provided, however, that no
121	121	93funds shall be used for costs associated with incineration. (b) Not less than forty percent of
122	122	94amounts deposited in the Fund shall be used for recycling, composting and solid waste source
123	123	95reduction projects and programs, including reuse and refill. (c) Not less than an additional ten
124	124	96percent of amounts deposited in the Fund shall be used for recycling and other solid waste
125	125	97projects and programs. (d) Not more than fifty percent of amounts deposited in the fund shall be
126	126	98used for other environmental programs consistent with the purposes of the “bottle bill” so-called
127	127	99including department administration and enforcement, including the provision of clean water and
128	128	100sewer and improvements to storm water management. 6 of 7
129	129	101 SECTION 10 Said chapter 94 is hereby amended by inserting after section 323E the
130	130	102following section:
131	131	103 “Section 323F. There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth a separate
132	132	104fund to be known as the Clean Environment Fund. Amounts deposited in said fund shall be used,
133	133	105subject to appropriation, solely for programs and projects in the management of solid waste and
134	134	106for environmental protection, including, but not limited to: (i) reimbursing the department for all
135	135	107costs incurred in administering, monitoring, and enforcing the beverage container deposit
136	136	108system; (ii) grants or loans to redemption centers, dealers, or distributors for infrastructure and
137	137	109improvements related to the beverage container deposit return program; (iii) infrastructure
138	138	110related to reusable beverage container return and refill systems; and (iv) improvements to
139	139	111drinking water, storm water, and wastewater systems; provided, however, that no funds shall be
140	140	112used for costs associated with incineration.”
141	141	113 SECTION 11. Section 327 of Chapter 94 is hereby amended by striking “Any bottler,
142	142	114distributor, redemption center or dealer who violates any provisions of section three hundred and
143	143	115twenty-one to three hundred and twenty-six, inclusive, shall be subject to a civil penalty for each
144	144	116violation of not more than one thousand dollars” and inserting instead, “Any person, distributors,
145	145	117or dealers who violate the requirements of this act shall be subject to a fine for each violation and
146	146	118for each day the violation occurs in the amount of not more than $10,000. Apart from any actions
147	147	119undertaken by the attorney general and district attorneys, the Department may bring a civil action
148	148	120to enjoin the sale, distribution, or importation into the United States of a beverage sold in a
149	149	121beverage container in violation of this act. Any citizen of the Commonwealth may likewise bring
150	150	122an action in court against any person, distributor, or the Department to enforce this subtitle, by
151	151	123which they may recoup damages, attorney’s fees and other costs associated with bringing the 7 of 7
152	152	124suit, and civil penalties that the distributor is required to pay as fines." Section 327 of Chapter 94
153	153	125is further amended by inserting the following: “A distributor of a beverage container sold in the
154	154	126state shall annually report to the Department: (1) The total amount of beverage containers sold,
155	155	127offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior calendar year; (2) The amount of
156	156	128single-use beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior
157	157	129calendar year; (3) The amount of reusable beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or
158	158	130distributed into the state during the prior calendar year; (4) A breakdown of the material type of
159	159	131all beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or distributed into the state during the prior
160	160	132calendar; and (5) Information regarding the quantity and final destination of redeemed beverage
161	161	133containers during the prior calendar year. Any manufacturer of a beverage container sold in the
162	162	134state shall include on the label of each beverage container: (1) A standardized description of the
163	163	135applicable refund value in such a manner that it is clearly visible; and (2) A UPC barcode to
164	164	136identify and validate participation in the program."
165	165	137 SECTION 12. This act shall take effect on December 31, 2025.