Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
The Smart Container Act.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning beverage containers, and supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Smart Container Act."
2. The Legislature finds and declares that litter composed of discarded beverage bottles and cans is a growing problem of public concern and a direct threat to the health and safety of the citizens of this State; that discarded beverage bottles and cans create a hazard to vehicular traffic, a source of physical injury to pedestrians, farm animals and machinery, and an unsightly accumulation of litter which must be disposed of at increasing public expense; that beverage bottles and cans also create an unnecessary addition to the State s already costly and overburdened solid waste management system; that the indiscriminate disposal of such bottles and cans creates an impediment to the efficient operation of New Jersey s resource recovery incineration facilities; that the uninhibited discard of beverage containers constitutes a waste of both mineral and energy resources; and that requiring a deposit on all beverage bottles and cans, along with certain other facilitating measures, will provide a necessary incentive for the economically efficient and environmentally benign collection and recycling of such containers.
The Legislature therefore determines that it serves the public interest to provide that all beverage bottles and cans sold or offered for sale in this State have a refund value, and to provide for the convenient return and payment of the refund value of empty beverage containers.
3. As used in this act:
"Beverage" means all carbonated and noncarbonated drinks in liquid form intended for human consumption. "Beverage" shall not include:
(1) Milk and dairy derived products. Milk means whole milk, skim milk, low-fat milk, cream, cultured milk, yogurt, or any combination of those products. The term dairy derived products includes any product of which the single largest ingredient is milk, milk fat, cultured milk, or yogurt;
(2) Rice milk or soy milk;
(3) Infant formula;
(4) Alcoholic beverages. The term "alcoholic beverage" shall not include beer or other malt beverages, or wine products;
(5) A liquid that is a syrup, in a concentrated form, or typically added as a minor flavoring ingredient in food or drink, such as extracts, cooking additives, sauces, or condiments;
(6) A liquid that is ingested in very small quantities and that is consumed for medicinal purposes only;
(7) A liquid that is designed and consumed only as a nutritional supplement and not as a beverage;
(8) A product that is frozen at the time of sale;
(9) A product that is designed to be consumed in a frozen state;
(10) An instant drink powder; or
(11) Seafood, meat, vegetable broths, or soups.
"Beverage container" means the individual, separate, sealed glass, metal, aluminum, steel, or plastic bottle, can, or jar used for containing less than one gallon or 3.8 liters at the time of sale of a beverage intended for use or consumption in this State. A beverage container shall not include a refillable container.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
Distributor" means any person who sells beverages in beverage containers to a retailer.
"Division" means the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
"Malt beverage" means any beverage obtained by the alcoholic fermentation or infusion or decoction of barley, malt, hops, or other wholesome grain or cereal and water, including, but not limited to, ale, stout, or malt liquor.
"Redemption center" means a place or a business, and the owner or operator thereof, which accepts empty beverage containers for recycling and pays the refund value of beverage containers as approved by the department pursuant to the provisions of this act.
Refillable container" means a rigid plastic container that the department determines is routinely returned to and refilled by the product manufacturer at least five times with the original product that is stored inside of the container.
"Retailer" means a person who engages in the sale within the State of beverages in beverage containers to a consumer at retail for off-premises use or consumption.
"Reverse vending machine" means an automated device that uses a laser scanner, microprocessor, or other technology to accurately recognize the universal product code to determine if a particular beverage container is redeemable and accumulates information regarding beverage containers redeemed, thereby enabling the device to accept beverage containers from redeemers and to issue scrip for their refund value.
Smart container bar code means a universal product code applied to a beverage container to identify the container as sold or offered for sale in this State.
Universal product code" means a standard for encoding a set of lines and spaces that can be scanned and interpreted into numbers to identify a product. A universal product code may also mean any accepted industry barcode which replaces that code and that may be used to identify a product.
4. a. Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this State shall have a refund value when empty. Beverage containers with a minimum capacity of eight ounces, or its equivalent volume, and a maximum capacity of less than 24 ounces, or its equivalent volume, shall have a refund value of $0.10 each. Beverage containers with a minimum capacity of 24 ounces, or its equivalent volume, and a maximum capacity of less than one gallon or 3.8 liters, or its equivalent volume, shall have a refund value of $0.20 each.
b. Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this State shall be clearly identified by a stamp, label, or other mark securely affixed to the beverage container, bearing the inscription "New Jersey" or "N.J." or NJ and indicating the refund value of the beverage container.
c. Every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this State shall be embossed with a smart container bar code.
d. A person shall not sell or offer for sale a beverage container in this State unless the deposit on the beverage container is or has been paid to the State Treasurer by a distributor and unless the beverage container has a refund value of not less than $0.10 which is clearly indicated thereon as provided in this section.
e. Every redeemed empty beverage container sha