In a state that prides itself as a global leader in protecting the environment, recycling rates for beverage containers have dropped to their lowest point in almost a decade amid the continued closing of centers that pay for bottles and cans聽and the fallout from changes to California鈥檚聽recycling program.
Beyond the environmental concerns, the financial effects are also growing 鈥� pinching large supermarket chains and low-income, and even homeless, residents alike.
Beverage container recycling rates in California have fallen below 80 percent for the first time since 2008, according to data recently released by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (known as CalRecycle).聽In 2016, 79.8 percent of beverage containers were recycled, down from 81 percent in 2015. The beverage container recycling rate had reached a high of 85 percent as recently as 2013.
Bay Area residents have far fewer options to cash in on recyclables than they did several years ago. The value of plastic, glass and aluminum has decreased, prompting hundreds of recycling centers to close their doors in the past two years and putting pressure on the existing centers, which are struggling to meet the demand with little funds.
With fewer locations to redeem containers, people looking to get cash for their bottles and cans聽have to travel farther to existing recycling centers, which are often busy and subject to long waits.
An employee at the Tri-CED Community Recycling Center in Union City, Juancarlos Alayo, said the buyback center sees new customers daily, many of whom say they are coming to Tri-CED because their local recycling center shut down.
According to Tri-CED founder and Alameda County Supervisor Richard Valle, the center typically serves about 60,000 customers annually,聽but this past year it saw about 70,000, he said.
Jane Greaney, a Union City resident, said that many times the line gets so long at the Tri-CED center that she turns around and comes back another day. Despite her city鈥檚 curbside recycling program, it鈥檚 important to Greaney to come to Tri-CED, where she brings everything from electronic waste to cans and bottles. She believes in the good work the center does in providing jobs and getting trash out of the landfill, but it鈥檚 also nice to get cash back from bringing the recyclables there,聽she said.
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