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