(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a certified recycling center shall accept from any consumer or dropoff or collection program any empty beverage container, and shall pay to the consumer or dropoff or collection program the refund value of the beverage container. The center may pay the refund value based on the weight of returned containers.
(b) Any recycling center or processor which was in existence on January 1, 1986, and which refused, as of January 1, 1986, to accept at a particular location a certain type of empty beverage container may continue to refuse to accept at the location the type or types of empty beverage containers that the recycling center or processor refused to accept as of January 1, 1986. Any certified recycling center which refuses, pursuant to this subdivision, to accept a certain type or types of empty beverage containers is not eligible to receive handling fees unless the center agrees to accept all types of empty beverage containers and is a supermarket site. This subdivision does not preclude the certified recycling center from receiving a handling fee for beverage containers redeemed at supermarket sites which do accept all types of containers.
(c) The department shall develop procedures by which recycling centers and processors which meet the criteria of subdivision (b) may recertify to change the material types accepted.
(d) (1) Only a certified recycling center may pay the refund value to consumers or dropoff or collection programs. No person shall pay a noncertified recycler for empty beverage containers an amount which exceeds the current scrap value for each container type, which shall be determined in the following manner:
(A) For a plastic or glass beverage container, the current scrap value shall be determined by the department.
(B) For an aluminum beverage container, the current scrap value shall be not greater than the amount paid to the processor for that aluminum beverage container, on the date the container was purchased, by the location of end use, as defined in the regulations of the department.
(2) No person may receive or retain, for empty beverage containers which come from out of state, any refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees for which a claim is made to the department against the fund.
(3) Paragraph (1) does not affect curbside programs under contract with cities or counties.