According to the California recycling agency CalRecycle, residents of California will soon have more places to exchange their empty bottles and cans.
CalRecycle has recently allocated nearly $70 million to fund 37 projects aimed at increasing recycling options, such as mobile recycling, bag drop-off locations, and reverse vending machines, which allow users to deposit empty bottles or cans in exchange for cash or coupons.
This funding will support over 250 new recycling locations in 30 counties, including remote counties like Butte, Imperial, Lassen, Mendocino, and Merced.
Supermarket chains SaveMart and Smart&Final have received over $2 million in grants each to install reverse vending machines in 19 counties.
CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller stated that this funding not only provides California residents with more ways to exchange bottles and cans for money but also enriches the recycling materials for California manufacturers.
The agency plans to allocate nearly $215 million this year to strengthen recycling efforts within the state.
With the increase in state funding, beverage retailers will also face more regulations. Starting January 1st next year, large beverage retailers in areas without recycling centers must set up in-store bottle and can deposit redemption systems or establish or join non-profit cooperatives to provide customers with redemption options.
Cooperatives will benefit from state funding and can choose to offer reverse vending machines, mobile recycling, or bag-drop recycling.
Retailers who do not comply with the new regulations may face fines of $100 per day.
According to the CalRecycle website, small stores (with annual sales not exceeding $1.5 million or retail space not exceeding 5,000 square feet) will be exempt from the obligation to provide redemption systems.
Starting January 1st, retailers will also need to register with CalRecycle to receive future regulations and funding updates.
With the expansion of the state’s recycling program, California residents can now exchange juice and vegetable juice containers for money.
Last year, a bill signed by Governor Newsom included 100% juice and vegetable juice bottles in the 1986 California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.
This bill encourages residents to recycle beverage containers and requires them to pay a small deposit for eligible bottles—5 cents for containers up to 24 ounces, 10 cents for containers over 24 ounces, and 25 cents for boxed, pouch, bagged, or other packaged wine or distilled spirits. Consumers who recycle containers at one of over 1,200 recycling centers in California will receive a refund.
Bill Dodd, the sponsor of the bill and a state senator, stated in a press release that by including juice and vegetable juice containers in the recycling program, it is expected to increase the annual recycling volume by 2 billion containers. ◇