Substitute Connecticut House Bill 6664 (2023) - (Passed)

Producer is defined as any person responsible for compliance with minimum post-consumer recycled content requirements for a plastic beverage container, including any owner or licensee of a brand or trademark for a plastic beverage container that is sold under such owner's or licensee's owned or licensed brand or trademark, regardless of whether such trademark is registered in this state.

Producer is also defined as the manufacturer of a plastic beverage container that lacks identification of a brand at the point of sale or the person who manufactures such plastic beverage container.

If there is no other person as Brand of Licensee over whom the state can constitutionally exercise jurisdiction, the person who imports or distributes the plastic beverage container in or into the state is defined as producer.

Any producer that annually sells, offers for sale, distributes or imports into the country for sale in this state less than one ton of plastic beverage containers each year, or plastic beverage containers that, in aggregate, generate less than one million dollars each year in sales in the state are excluded from the definition of producer.

Any government agency, municipality or other political subdivision of the state are excluded from the definition of producer.

Any organization registered under Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code is excluded from the definition of producer.

On and after January 1, 2027, plastic beverage containers sold, offered for sale or distributed in this state by each producer shall contain, on average and in the aggregate, not less than 25% post-consumer recycled content.

On and after January 1, 2032, plastic beverage containers sold, offered for sale or distributed in this state by each producer shall contain, on average and in the aggregate, not less than 30% post-consumer recycled content.

Beginning July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, each producer shall provide third‐party certification of the minimum post-consumer recycled content of all plastic beverage containers offered for sale in the state, in writing, to the commissioner.

On or before April 1, 2026, each producer that offered for sale, sold, or distributed plastic beverage containers in or into the state in the previous calendar year shall register with the commissioner, individually, or through a third‐party representative. Each producer must pay an initial registration fee of five hundred dollars.

Any entity that becomes a producer for the first time on or after April 1, 2026, shall submit the registration and submit the initial registration fee required by this subparagraph not more than one hundred eighty days after such entity becomes a producer.

On or before April 1, 2031, and every five years thereafter, each producer that offered for sale, sold, or distributed plastic beverage containers in or into this state in the previous calendar year shall register with the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection. Each producer or representative submitting such a registration shall remit a registration fee in an amount to be determined by said commissioner. Such fee shall be scaled to reflect the market share of any such producer or representative during the preceding five calendar years. The fees will be adequate to cover the department's cost to implement, administer, monitor and enforce the provisions and shall be used exclusively for such purposes. The commissioner may modify the amount of such registration fee, including by setting a maximum amount for such fee, as necessary, to reflect updated implementation costs.

Any producer that sold, offered for sale or distributed less than 10,000 plastic beverage containers or, in the aggregate, less than 200 pounds of plastic that is not post-consumer recycled plastic shall not be required to pay the initial registration fee.

Each producer shall submit a report to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, on or before April 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, identifying the brand names of the plastic beverage containers represented in the report as well as the weight, in pounds, of post-consumer recycled plastic, the weight, in pounds, of plastic that is not post-consumer recycled plastic and the percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic in the total weight of all plastic beverage containers the producer sold, offered for sale or distributed for sale in this state in such prior calendar year. The form and manner of the report shall be prescribed by the commissioner and each report shall be certified and such certification signed by an authorized official of the producer.