2.__Reports.__Each deposit initiator must report to the department on or before the 20th day of March, June, September and December the total amount of deposits paid to, refunds paid from and income earned on the deposit initiator's deposit transaction account for the 3-month period ending the last day of December, March, June and September, respectively.

3.__Unclaimed deposits.__Each deposit initiator shall pay to the Treasurer of State on or before the 20th day of March, June, September and December an amount equal to the unclaimed deposits held by the deposit initiator in its deposit transaction account.__Funds received by the Treasurer of State under this subsection must be deposited into the General Fund.

SUMMARY

This bill allows initiators of deposits for beverage containers, for example, manufacturers or distributors, to enter into commingling agreements that allow dealers of the initiators' products and redemption centers to commingle the returned beverage containers according to the material, size or product group.

This bill also increases the handling fee that initiators of deposit must pay to dealers or redemption centers by 2¢ per returned container, for a total handling fee of 5¢ per container. However, to encourage the use of commingling agreements, this bill also provides a discount on the handling fee of 1.5¢ per container if that container is subject to a commingling agreement that allows for commingling of containers of like material and size, for example, 12-ounce aluminum cans. If the commingling agreement also requires the containers to be sorted by product group, for example, 12- ounce aluminum beer cans, the initiator of deposit is only entitled to a discount of 1¢ per container. The net effect is that dealers or redemption centers will realize a gain of at least .5¢ but not more than 2¢ per beverage container.