Section 14573.51.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, recycling centers and processors shall not pay curbside programs more than the applicable statewide average curbside commingled rate unless the curbside program has received an individual commingled rate from the department pursuant to subdivision (b).

(b) The department may establish a procedure whereby the operators of curbside programs may apply for an individual commingled rate for any material or types with or without a statewide commingled rate, including, but not limited to, glass, aluminum, bimetal, or any of the individual plastic resin types or combination of resin types identified by resin identification codes under Section 18015. These procedures shall require, at a minimum, all of the following:

(1) The individual rate shall be valid for no more than one year from the date the individual rate is authorized.

(2) The methodology used by the operator of the curbside program to determine the commingled rate shall be approved by the department, in advance.

(c) Curbside programs that have acquired an individual commingled rate, pursuant to this section, shall not be surveyed by the department to determine the statewide average curbside commingled rate during the period the individual commingled rate is effective.

(d) The department may enter into a contract for the services required to implement the amendments to this section made by the act of the first half of the 2003–04 Regular Session of the Legislature amending this section. The department may not expend more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for each year of the contract. The contract shall be paid only from revenues derived from redemption payments and processing fees paid on plastic beverage containers displaying the resin identification code "3," "4," "5," "6," or "7" pursuant to Section 18015. If the department determines that insufficient funds will be available from these revenues, after refund values are paid to processors and the reduction is made in the processing fee pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 14575 for these containers, the department may determine not to calculate a commingled rate pursuant to subdivision (b).

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 753, Sec. 11. Effective January 1, 2004.)