Beverage containers: glass wine bottles: market development.

Assembly Member Ransom's proposal to expand California's glass recycling incentives would create a new market development payment program specifically for in-state manufacturers of wine bottles, drawing from existing recycling fund allocations to offer up to $200 per ton for qualifying production.

The measure authorizes the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to provide payments to California-based manufacturers who produce glass wine bottles intended for sale to beverage makers within the state. These payments would come from unallocated portions of the $60 million currently appropriated annually for glass container market development. Individual manufacturers could receive payments for up to 25,000 tons of production per year, subject to legislative appropriation and fund availability.

According to the bill's findings, glass containers can be recycled indefinitely without quality loss, with every 10% of recycled glass content reducing manufacturing energy use by 2-3% and each six tons of recycled material decreasing carbon emissions by one ton. The authors note that California manufacturers face different regulatory requirements than foreign competitors, particularly regarding recycled content standards and emissions controls. The measure aims to address what the authors describe as an underutilized glass market development program, citing price competition from foreign-made bottles as a key factor limiting California wine bottle production.