ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
bottle and can deposits
Establishes deposit fees on beverage containers sold at retail in Arizona and provides for the redemption of these fees by consumers when the beverage containers are turned in to a recycling center.
Concern
over the proliferation of empty bottles and cans along Arizona’s rural roads
and highways has prompted the introduction of S.B. 1501. Currently, there is not an Arizona deposit
law that provides a financial incentive for people to turn in bottles and cans
for recycling.
Ten states currently have
deposit laws, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa,
Maine, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont.
The amounts of deposit range in these states from two to fifteen
cents.
S.B. 1501 establishes a
deposit law that would create a financial incentive for the recycling of
bottles and cans through the collection of fees from beverage retailers and
distributors on each beverage container sold.
These fees can be recovered by consumers who turn in bottles and cans to
recycling centers.
There is no anticipated
fiscal impact to the general fund.
1. Requires a fee of three cents for the sale of each beverage container of twenty-four ounces or less and a fee of six cents for the sale of each beverage container of more than twenty-four ounces be assessed on:
¨ Distributors who sell
beverages in beverage containers to retail sellers in Arizona.
¨ Entertainment facilities
that sell beverages in beverage containers to consumers in Arizona.
¨ Consumers who purchase
beverages in beverage containers at retail outlets in Arizona.
2. Requires the fee be collected from distributors, entertainment facilities and retail outlets at the same time and same manner that a transaction privilege tax is collected by the Department of Revenue.
3. Requires recycling centers to pay the redemption value of the beverage container to any person who delivers beverage containers to a recycling center, plus an additional half cent incentive payment for each beverage container delivered by a consumer or entertainment facility.
4. Establishes a beverage-recycling fund to be administered by the Director of the Department of Revenue. This fund consists of the fees collected from beverage distributors, entertainment facilities and retail outlets. Monies in the fund are used to reimburse recycling facilities for paying the redemption value and the half-cent incentive payment to people who bring in beverage containers for recycling.
5. Provides that a recycling center may collect monthly from the beverage-recycling fund, the redemption values and incentive payments it dispersed the previous month to persons who delivered beverage containers.
6. Requires that beverage containers sold in Arizona bear the designation “ARIZONA REDEMPTION VALUE” or “A.R.V.” on the outside of the beverage container.
7. Defines terms.
8. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 20, 2001