Senate bill imposes beverage container deposit fee

A bill was introduced in the Senate Thursday that aims to impose a minimum 10-cent deposit or refund for every beverage container sold to consumers in the CNMI.

Bill author Sen. Joseph M. Mendiola said that Senate Bill 14-67, which provides for a beverage container deposit system in the Commonwealth, would promote recycling and address the solid waste problem in the CNMI.

He cited that beverage containers are a major source of non-biodegradable litter in the CNMI and their collection and disposal have caused “a great financial burden” on the Commonwealth.

The bill seeks to grant incentives for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and consumers to reuse or recycle beverage containers.

It provides that every beverage container sold in the CNMI must have a deposit and refund value of no less than 10 cents. It provides that the refund value and the abbreviation “MP” must be clearly indicated on every refundable beverage sold or offered for sale by dealers in the CNMI, by embossing, stamping, labeling, or other methods to secure attachment to the beverage containers.

The bill provides for the creation of local redemption centers where customers can return containers and claim their refunds for items purchased in the CNMI.

A fine of $100 to $1,000 would be assessed against those who refuse to refund items for each separate offense.

Any person who claims refunds for containers not purchased in the CNMI may be subject to a civil penalty of $100 per container or $25,000 for each tender.

The bill defines beverage container as any glass, plastic, plastic coated paper, aluminum, or other metal can, bottle, jar, or carton in which contents have been sealed by the bottler and at the time of sale contains four liters or less of beverage.

Beverage container does not include a container composed in whole or part of aluminum and plastic or aluminum and paper in combination as long as the aluminum content represents 10 percent or less of the unfilled container weight, the container materials represent 5 percent or less of the total weight of the container and its contents, and the container is filled with nonalcoholic beverage.

In other developments, Sen. Henry H. San Nicolas introduced Senate Legislative Initiative 14-09, which seeks to amend the Constitution to provide for the constitutional right to a jury trial of an accused in a criminal prosecution.

“The statutory right to a jury trial for persons accused in criminal prosecutions for offenses punishable by more than five years is not sufficient,” he said.

He said that given the CNMI’s population, “the sophistication of CNMI citizens, and the CNMI’s experience in territorial, commonwealth, and federal criminal jury trials, the administering of criminal jury trials would be less difficult compared to the past.”

On Thursday, San Nicholas also introduced Senate Bill 14-65, which aims to criminalize the act of defrauding the administration of drug tests.

This act would include submitting a substance such as urine from a person other than the concerned individual to mislead an outcome of a test.