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Bill C-296

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2nd Session, 36th Parliament,
48 Elizabeth II, 1999

The House of Commons of Canada

BILL C-296

An Act respecting beverage containers

      Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Beverage Containers Act.

INTERPRETATION

Definition of ``container''

2. In this Act, ``container'' means a container composed in whole or in part of plastic, metal or glass that contains or is intended to contain a beverage intended for sale.

REFILLABLE CONTAINERS

Prohibition

3. No person shall sell or offer for sale a beverage in a container other than a container upon the return of which a sum of money is payable pursuant to section 4.

Payment

4. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), every retail vendor presented with an empty container shall accept the container and shall pay to the person presenting the container, in cash,

    (a) twenty-five cents for each container that, when sold at retail, has a capacity of no more than 350 millilitres;

    (b) thirty cents for each container that, when sold at retail, has a capacity of more than 350 millilitres and less than one litre; and

    (c) forty cents per litre of capacity for each container having a capacity of one litre or more.

Reserve

(2) No retail vendor is required to accept

    (a) a container that is not intact or is not in a reasonably clean condition; or

    (b) more than forty-eight containers from one person in a twenty-four hour period.

Reserve

(3) This Act does not apply where an amount charged pursuant to a provincial or territorial Act for the return of containers is equal to or greater than the amount referred to in subsection (1).

Reserve

(4) The amount referred to in subsection (1) is reduced by the amount charged pursuant to a provincial or territorial Act for the return of containers.

Collection of containers by distributor, processor or manufacturer

5. (1) Every distributor, processor and manufacturer shall collect from every retail vendor, on the request of the vendor, all empty containers for beverages manufactured, processed, sold or distributed by the distributor, processor or manufacturer held by the retail vendor and reimburse the retail vendor in full for the payment made by the retail vendor under section 4 for every container collected.

Reimburse-
ment to distributor

(2) When a distributor returns to a processor or manufacturer empty containers collected under subsection (1), the processor or manufacturer shall reimburse the distributor in full for the payment made by the distributor under subsection (1) for every container returned by the distributor.

OFFENCE AND PUNISHMENT

Offence and punishment

6. Every one who contravenes this Act is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

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