How to Recycle in California
If you live in California, chances are you know about the state's many recycling programs. If you redeem your recycling at one of the many recycling centers, you can get paid cash for your items.
Californians bought 21.9 billion drinks in aluminum, glass, plastic and bi-metal containers last year. More than 14.7 billion of those containers were recycled, saving natural resources, conserving energy and extending the life of our landfills. (Info taken from conservation.ca.gov)
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Instructions
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Collect Your Recycling... The first step is to collect your recycling from the items you use everyday. Most items you would think are eligible for recycling, probably are. In California, bottles have what is called CRV (California Refund Value). Most plastic, aluminum, and glass containers will have the CRV imprint on the label. When you buy containers at a store, you pay a premium for CRV, then get refunded this amount when you recycle the container. As of Jan. 1, 2007, the price consumers get for recycling containers is 5¢ for each beverage container less than 24 ounces and 10¢ for each container 24 ounces or greater.
For a complete list of items that are allowed for recycling under CRV, see the link at the bottom of this page.
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Locate a Recycling Center... When you redeem your recycling at any of the more than 2,000 recycling centers in California, you will get paid cash for the redemption value of your items. It is easy to find a center near you by using the internet.
A state sponsored website with a recycling location finder is available at this link:
http://www.bottlesandcans.com/dev/locator.cfm?phpMyAdmin=SNwipYERqHbZX3jreShERea0uK8The Yellow Pages also has a great directory, simply search for "recycling centers" in your city.
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Redeem Your Recycling and Get Paid... Most of the recycling centers in California are privately owned. So there is a chance they will deduct a fee before paying you your redemption money. While at the recycling center, you will need to sort your items by type and then the attendant will weigh your items. After weighting, you will be given a receipt that you can take to the cashier to get paid. It's that simple.
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Other miscellaneous, and much larger, items are also eligible for recycling in California too. This includes hot water heaters, washing machines, dryers, automobiles, copper piping, wood, plastic crates, and computer monitors. Contact your local city government for a location to recycle these items.
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Tips & Warnings
Some items that are generally NOT recyclable are: juice containers that are cardboard such are Tropicana Orange juice and Dole juice containers, medicine bottles, baby bottles, some metal cans such as tuna and corn.
