The purposes of this chapter are: (a) To promote the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the county by offering an incentive for the reduction of the amount of litter in public areas of the county, a large portion of which litter consists of discarded beverage containers; and (b) To relieve the refuse disposal facilities of the county of a large portion of the burden of disposing of beverage container litter. Nothing contained in this chapter shall in any way affect, be construed to affect or be in conflict with the regulation of alcoholic beverages in accordance with article 2B of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: Beverage: Beer, ale or other malt beverages, soft drinks, carbonated water and ice tea in liquid form and intended for human consumption. Consumer: Every person who purchases a beverage in a nonreusable beverage container for use or consumption, without intent to resell. Dealer: Every person who engages in the sale of beverages in nonreusable beverage containers to a consumer in the county, including any manufacturer who engages in such sales. Distributor: Every person who engages in the sale of beverages in nonreusable beverage containers to a dealer in the county, including any manufacturer who engages in such sales. Greater Washington area: Those jurisdictions within the exterior limits of the Washington, D.C., Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, which have enacted provisions similar to the provisions of this chapter. Manufacturer: Every person bottling, canning or otherwise filling nonreusable beverage containers for sale to distributors or dealers. Nonreusable beverage container: Any individual, separate, sealed glass, metal or plastic bottle, can, jar or carton containing a beverage which is not ordinarily collected from consumers for refilling with a beverage. Soft drink: Ginger ale, root beer, sarsaparilla, pop, any soda water, cola or other carbonated or noncarbonated beverages. The term "soft drink" does not include dairy products or fruit juices.

Every nonreusable beverage container in which beverages are sold or offered for sale in Montgomery County shall have a minimum cash refund value of five cents ($0.05).

(a) A dealer shall not refuse to accept from any person any empty nonreusable beverage containers marked pursuant to section 6A-5 of this chapter of the kind, size and brand of beverage sold by the dealer, or refuse to pay in cash to the consumer the refund value of a nonreusable beverage container established pursuant to section 6A-3 of this chapter if the empty nonreusable beverage container is presented at the location at which the dealer sells or offers for sale such beverages in nonreusable beverage containers to consumers; provided that for the purposes of this section "dealer" shall not include persons selling beverages to consumers for on-premises consumption. (b) A distributor shall not refuse to accept from a dealer any empty nonreusable beverage container, marked pursuant to section 6A-5 of this chapter, of a kind, size and brand of beverage sold by the distributor, or refuse to pay in cash to the dealer the refund value of a nonreusable beverage container as established pursuant to section 6A-3 of this chapter, if the empty nonreusable beverage containers are presented at the time and location of any delivery of filled nonreusable beverage containers by the distributor to the dealer.

No distributor or dealer shall sell or offer for sale in Montgomery County a beverage in a nonreusable container that does not clearly indicate in a securely affixed manner the following information: (a) The nonreusable beverage container is to be sold within the Greater Washington area; and (b) The refund value of the nonreusable beverage container is not less than the minimum amount specified in section 6A-3 of this chapter.

Beginning January 1, 1979, no distributor or dealer shall sell or offer for sale in the county any metal nonreusable beverage container so designed and constructed that a metal part of the container is completely detachable from the container without the aid of a can opener, other than screw tops and bottle caps.

Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be punished as a class C violation as set forth in section 1-19 of chapter 1 of the County Code. Each day a violation of the provisions of this chapter continues to exist shall constitute a separate offense.

The county executive is hereby requested to investigate throughout the Greater Washington area and jurisdictions adjacent to and within Montgomery County the progress in developing and passing legislation similar to this law, and evaluations of the effectiveness of any such beverage container legislation and the beverage industry recycling program, and to report to the council annually in April on such progress, and actions he has taken or proposes to take to ensure regional and state-wide legislation of a similar nature.