BILL REQ. #:  S-0668.1 

Read first time 01/24/13.   Referred to Committee on Energy, Environment & Telecommunications.

     AN ACT Relating to petroleum-based beverage bottles; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the production and disposal of petroleum-based beverage bottles in Washington is not sustainable. The legislature finds that less than twenty percent of these bottles are recycled postconsumer and that at least twenty-eight thousand tons are disposed of in landfills annually.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Compostable" means made solely of organic substances that break down into a stable product due to the action of bacteria in a controlled, aerobic commercial process that results in a material safe and desirable as a soil amendment meeting the compost quality standards found under WAC 173-350-220 for metals, physical parameters, pathogens, manufactured inert material and other testing parameters set by the local health department.
     (2) "Department" means the department of ecology.
     (3) "Petroleum-based beverage bottle" means a bottle made from a petroleum-based plastic not intended by the manufacturer to be a reusable container that is one and one-half liters in size or smaller and is marketed to contain a beverage.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) Effective July 1, 2014, no state agency may purchase petroleum-based beverage bottles for use in state-owned or leased facilities or at state-sponsored events.
     (2) Effective January 1, 2015, no manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer may manufacture, knowingly sell, offer for sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in this state any petroleum-based beverage bottle unless the bottle is compostable.
     (3) The department shall develop guidelines identifying the specifications of plastic beverage bottles allowed under this section.
     (4) The department may adopt rules as necessary for the purpose of implementing, administering, and enforcing this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) The department shall send a written warning to a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer known to be manufacturing, knowingly selling, or distributing petroleum-based beverage bottles in the state in violation of section 3 of this act.
     (2) A manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer who continues to sell petroleum-based beverage bottles sixty days after receiving a written warning from the department may be assessed a penalty of up to ten thousand dollars. The department shall assess a penalty of ten thousand dollars for each subsequent violation.
     (3) All penalties levied under this section must be deposited into the state toxics control account created in RCW 70.105D.070.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   Sections 1 through 4 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.