RELATING TO DEPOSIT BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING.
HB1928 would repeal Hawaii’s existing deposit beverage container program and replace it with a new recycling refund producer responsibility program administered either directly by producers or through a nonprofit producer responsibility organization. The bill establishes a framework for registration, reporting, fees, audits, enforcement, and program planning, and it requires producers to ensure that beverage containers carry a 5-cent refund value and are marked for Hawaii redemption. It also defines which beverages and containers are covered, sets out roles for dealers, redemption centers, reverse vending machines, and contracted pickup operators, and creates an advisory committee to help the Department of Health write implementing rules.
The bill is designed to expand convenient redemption options and shift more operational responsibility from retailers and the state to producers, while still preserving consumer refunds and recycling access. It requires a redemption network that is convenient across urban, suburban, and rural areas, includes multiple redemption modalities, and aims to improve redemption rates and reduce litter and waste. It also provides for unredeemed deposits to support program operations and system improvements, and it repeals the current statutory deposit beverage container program provisions to make room for the new system.
HB1928 would substantially amend Chapter 342G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by creating a new producer responsibility-based recycling refund system and repealing the existing deposit beverage container program. It also makes conforming changes to related statutes, including removing the current deposit exemption in section 235-18, updating beer keg definitions in sections 445-231 and 708-835.8, and revising the central service assessment statute to remove reference to the old deposit beverage container special fund. The bill would shift compliance, reporting, and funding obligations to producers and producer responsibility organizations, while giving the Department of Health oversight, approval, audit, and enforcement authority.
The overall sentiment reflected in the bill materials is supportive of modernization and environmental improvement. The findings section emphasizes Hawaii’s limited landfill space, the need to reduce off-island waste disposal, and the benefits of deposit return systems for litter reduction and recycling performance. The bill’s last recorded action shows it passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and moved forward without any aye-with-reservations or no votes, suggesting no recorded opposition at that stage.
The main policy tension appears to be between improving redemption convenience and reducing burdens on retailers versus the complexity and cost of transitioning to a producer responsibility model. The bill specifically addresses concerns that the current system has become less convenient and harder for residents to use, while also requiring producers to fund and manage the new network, pay administrative fees, and undergo audits. Potential points of contention include how fees are set, how existing redemption centers are compensated, how convenience standards are defined for different regions, and how the remaining balance in the existing special fund is divided between producers and the general fund. The absence of recorded committee testimony or votes with reservations suggests these issues were not formally contested in the available history, but they are the most likely areas of debate.