Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on changes to California’s bottle recycling law in a bid to bolster the state’s beverage container recycling program, reducing the amount of plastic and glass going into landfills and helping to stabilize the recycling market.
Senate Bill 353, introduced by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, will add containers of 100 percent fruit juice and vegetable juice to the state’s bottle recycling law, putting another 200 million containers per year into the recycling stream, Dodd’s office said in a news release Saturday.
It would also invest new ongoing funding to support rural recycling options for consumers to redeem their deposit and improve recycling rates.
The bill also authorizes the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adjust its processing of payment calculations for recyclers to a quarterly schedule rather than yearly, helping to stabilize the market.
Lastly, the bill improves transparency on recycling metrics and allows the department to make critical efficiency improvements.
“This is a big step toward cutting our state’s waste stream while uplifting our recycling program,” Sen. Dodd said in a statement Saturday. “This new law reduces the amount of recyclables we put into landfills, provides a financial lifeline to recyclers, and maximizes consumers’ options for redeeming deposits on beverage containers. Ultimately, it will help us meet our recycling goals. I thank the governor for his support.”
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, established in 1986, encourages consumers to recycle beverage containers by requiring them to pay a deposit for eligible bottles.
Over the years, the program has been expanded to include soda, beer and wine bottles. However, it does not include larger or vegetable juice containers. According to Dodd’s office, the program has been plagued with volatile annual scrap valuations that threaten many recyclers in rural, underserved communities.
“This measure will increase consumer opportunities to recycle and get cash back on empty containers, by making common sense updates to the CRV program,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. “All juice beverages, regardless of container size, will now have a refund, and recycling payments for new and existing recycling centers will be stabilized against scrap market fluctuations.”
Who’s kidding whom, virtually all of the collection points have closed. Recycle receptacles are readily available, and yet the recyclers send a lot of our plastic bottles to the landfill. So who is going to get the lions share of these tax dollars? Guess Who? The General Fund! And Who pays? We all do!!!
As I commented on this needless bill recently the beauty of no recycle fee on the 100% fruit and vegetable juice bottles was that you could just throw them into your recycle bin. Sure a few dorks will toss it by the roadside but even with a recycle fee they’ll still do it. Obviously this is to grab more money for goofy pet projects of sycophantic politicians.
And when will people get the actual empty container refund like they used to?
We were originally told that our recycling efforts would be rewarded by lowering our bill. Didn’t happen!
@Dorothy
Safeway accepts bottles and cans for the deposit amount, 25 at a time, bagged and separated.
I can’t wait to be able to bring bottles back for big time cash rewards. I hope the line isn’t too long.
The downward spiral continues…
Just one more reason added to my list of hundreds, why I cannot wait to move out of this cesspool of a State.
Another superficial go nowhere accomplish nothing bill by the feckless California democrats.
Meanwhile, the state continues to crumble.
Desperate to close that 31 BILLION dollar deficit DEMs created.
Besides garbage companies and homeless need the money.
An how much of that deposit paid at purchase are recycle centers pocketing?
I’m a big proponent of recycling. My wife and I assiduously separate our cans/bottles/newspaper, and have for years.
I have long been mystified about where our can and bottle deposit money goes. It has always been difficult, if not impossible, to recapture those funds. We need an accounting from the state (though I’m not holding my breath).
Good luck on seeing an audit result for Cal Recycle. I dealt with them for several years while I was working and it was a total paper shuffle, never a REAL answer situation with them. I’m sure it’s the same if the California taxpayers wanted to see an audit of the state lottery funds. Now that would be interesting!!!
Newsom fiddle while California … circled the toilet.
When I was a lad, we used to be able to return bottles to the grocery store for refunds. Granted, personnel will have to be devoted to this task if it were brought back, but, perhaps an accommodation could be made where the store could retain a percentage of the refund to offset the added personnel costs. As it is now, someone, above pointed out the dearth of recycling locations and the garbage companies can reap the rewards when they separate out the recycled materials with deposits.
Come on and sign something that matters. CLOSE OUR BOARDERS.