Hawaii

Details

Some notes about the Hawaii deposit law: Redemption centers must submit reports regularly, Refund may be calculated by weight.

Hawaii charges a nonrefundable "deposit beverage container fee" in addition to the 5¢ refundable deposit. This fee is used to pay the redemption centers' handling fees, which are equal to the container fee except in the case of glass. The container fee is set at 1¢, but the law requires it to be changed to 1.5¢ should the redemption rate any given year exceed 70%. However, the Director of the program is authorized to suspend any increase in this fee if the size of the deposit beverage container fund is sufficient to maintain operations. This occurred in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the fee stayed at 1¢. In September 2012, the fee was increased to 1.5¢.[e]

Because the law only requires beverage distributors pay the container fee to DOH, there is no specific guidance on how retailers decide to pass on the fee to their customers.

In September 2008, the Department of Health changed the handling fee that is paid out to redemption centers for glass containers. After the change, glass containers that were destined for remanufacturing applications receive a 4¢ fee, and glass containers destined for industrial or agricultural applications receive a 2¢ fee.