(a) No used oil collection center shall be eligible for the payment of recycling incentives until the board has certified that the center is in compliance with the requirements in subdivision (b). Before certification, the board may require the center to submit any information that the board determines is necessary to find that the center is in compliance with those requirements. A center shall reapply for certification every four years. The board may cancel the certification of a center if the board finds that the center is not, or has not been, in compliance with subdivision (b). The board may withhold the payment of recycling incentives for used lubricating oil collected by a center if the board finds that the center was not in compliance with subdivision (b) during the time in which the used lubricating oil was collected.

(b) To be eligible for certification by the board and for the payment of recycling incentives, the used oil collection center shall do all of the following:

(1) Accept used lubricating oil from the public at no charge during the hours that the entity operating as the center is open for business.

(2) Pay to a person, at his or her request, an amount equal to the recycling incentive that the center will receive for used lubricating oil brought to the center in containers by the person. Nothing in this chapter prohibits a person from donating used lubricating oil to a center. The recycling incentive may be in the form of a credit that may be applied toward the purchase of goods or services offered by the center, as determined by the board. The credit shall be in the form of a voucher or coupon with a value of at least twice the incentive amount to be paid pursuant to Section 48652 and have no other limits for use, unless prescribed by the board.

(3) Provide information to the board for informing the public of the center’s acceptance of used lubricating oil.

(4) Provide notice to the public of the center’s acceptance of used lubricating oil from the public through periodic advertising in local media and onsite signs that meet the following requirements:

(A) Onsite signs shall be of a design and specification prescribed by the board and shall state that the center is certified by the state and collects used oil from the public at no charge.

(B) A certified center shall post an exterior sign of a design and specification prescribed by the board in a location that is easily visible from a public street. In addition, the certified center shall post an informational sign of a design and specification prescribed by the board so that it is easily readable from the location where the used oil is received from the public.

(C) If local zoning ordinances prevent signs of a size consistent with this paragraph, the exterior symbolic sign shall be of the maximum allowable size.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a used oil collection center may refuse to accept used lubricating oil that has been contaminated in a manner other than that which would occur through normal use.

(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a used oil collection center shall not knowingly accept used lubricating oil for which a payment has not been made pursuant to Section 48650.

(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 353, Sec. 18. (SB 546) Effective January 1, 2010.)