In response to a shortage of places to recycle cans and bottles, state officials announced that residents in 30 counties, including Los Angeles County, are getting modernized recycling centers or entirely new ways to turn their beverage containers into cash.
“Innovative ways to recycle will help more Californians take back their beverage containers and provide recycled materials to remanufacturers in the state,” CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller said in a news release. “These new sites will make recovery as easy as feeding the containers into a machine or dropping off a bag of empty containers.”
For the record:
12:55 pm August 30, 2024The headline on an earlier version of this article said California would open 250 new types of recycling centers. The grant money will fund the opening of more than 250 new recycling sites, some of them new types.
CalRecycle awarded nearly $70 million in grants for 37 projects involving new recycling methods, such as reverse vending machines, mobile recycling centers and bag drop-off sites. Reverse vending machines pay customers for beverage containers placed in the machine, according to CalRecycle, while mobile recycling centers collect empty beverage containers at more than one location.
The agency said the grant money will allow for more than 250 new recycling sites to open. Los Angeles County can expect to have mobile recycling machines, bag drop-off and vending machines.
Over the past decade, the state has lost half of its bottle recycling centers, leaving people with fewer opportunities to recoup their CRV fees. As a result, the state’s beverage container fund has increased from about $219 million in 2014 to $819 million in 2023, KPBS reported.
Under the grant program, grocery chains Save Mart and Smart and Final will each receive more than $2 million for reverse vending machines in 19 counties.
Newly modernized recycling sites will be built in Butte, Imperial, Lassen, Mendocino, Merced and other disadvantaged counties.
California’s beverage container recycling program, which is stamped on bottles and cans as “CRV,” imposes a refundable fee of between 5 and 25 cents per container, depending on the type and size. Someone buying a six-pack of soda, for example, would pay 30 cents in CRV fees.
The state’s goal for recycling beverage containers is 80%, but a recent CalRecycle report says the rate in 2023 was 70%, with about 19.6 billion bottles and cans returned to recycling sites.
Earlier this year, the CRV program was expanded to wines and distilled spirits packaged in cases or bags, which have a CRV of 25 cents. Wine, spirits, juices and other beverages packaged in plastic, aluminum or bimetallic containers have a CRV of 5 cents if they weigh less than 24 ounces and a CRV of 10 cents if they weigh 24 ounces or more.
According to CalRecycle’s report, approximately 85% of CRV collection in 2022 occurred at buyback centers or recycling centers. The remainder was accomplished through drop-off programs, community service programs, and curbside collection.
