HONOLULU – The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) has issued a Notice of Violation and Order against Genesis Today and OfficeMax, Inc. for late payments and reports required of beverage distributors by the state’s Deposit Beverage Container (DBC) Program law, also known as the HI-5 program. Both organizations were delinquent for the semi-annual reporting period from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2013.
Hawaii Revised Statutes §342G-105 requires beverage distributors to submit semi-annual distributor reports and payments to DOH no later than the 15th calendar day of the month following the end of the payment period for the previous month. Both organizations received multiple warning letters to remind them of the reporting requirements prior to being assessed a penalty.
DOH has assessed a $400 administrative penalty against Genesis Today and an $800 administrative penalty against OfficeMax for failing to comply with DBC requirements. Both organizations may request a hearing to contest the alleged facts and penalty.
Since its inception in January 2005, the HI-5 program has recycled more than five billion containers. Each year, more than 900 million beverage containers are sold in Hawaii. The program was designed to encourage Hawaii consumers to recycle their beverage containers to prevent these containers from ending up in the waste stream or as litter.
As an incentive, the Hawaii Deposit Beverage Container Program places a 5 cent redeemable deposit on each beverage container. Consumers receive their 5 cents back when they return their containers to a redemption center. The fees are assessed to distributors such as Genesis Today and OfficeMax based on the reported number of beverages sold to consumers.
For more information on the state’s Deposit Beverage Container Program, visit www.hi5deposit.com.