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SACRAMENTO – The New
Year brings a greater cash incentive for
Californians to recommit to recycling
and preserving the environment. January
1, 2007, marked the first day of an
increase in the cash refund consumers
receive when they take their empty
California Refund Value bottles and cans
to recycling centers.
For the first six
months of the year, the recycling refund
will be larger than the amount of CRV
consumers pay at the checkout stand for
most beverages in aluminum, glass and
plastic containers
Legislation signed
into law by Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger raised the refund
consumers receive from California
recycling centers to a nickel for
containers less than 24 ounces and a
dime for containers 24 ounces and
larger. For the next six months, the
amount of CRV consumers pay at the store
will remain four cents on smaller
containers and eight cents on larger
ones.
“This is a tremendous
incentive for Californians to recommit
to recycling their beverage containers,”
said Bridgett Luther, director of the
state Department of Conservation, which
oversees the bottle and can recycling
program. “By approving this legislation,
the governor once again affirms his
commitment to the environment, because
recycling saves natural resources, saves
energy, and reduces the amount of waste
going to landfills.”
Since AB 2020
established the state’s recycling
program in 1986, more than 160 billion
aluminum, glass, and plastic beverage
containers have been recycled in the
state. In 2005 alone, Californians
recycled an all-time record 12.4 billion
beverage containers, 61 percent of the
20.5 billion that were purchased in the
state.
“If we add together
all of the containers that have been
recycled since the program began, there
are enough to fill up all lanes of
Interstate 5 with a wall of bottles and
cans 14 feet high, the entire length of
the state,” Luther said.
Nevertheless,
billions of bottles and cans also end up
in landfills each year.
“When people fail to
recycle, it’s not just a waste of
money,” Luther said. “It also means lost
energy savings, because recycling saves
energy, and those valuable raw materials
for manufacturing are tossed away
forever.”
Prior to passage of
AB 2020 passed in September of 1986,
there was no incentive to recycle
bottles and cans other than the “scrap
value” recycling centers were willing to
pay. CRV was introduced in 1987, which
allowed Californians to collect one cent
for each beverage container recycled. In
1988, Californians recycled 6.1 billion
CRV containers.
CRV later increased
to 2.5 cents on containers less than 24
ounces and 4 cents on containers 24
ounces and larger. From 1991-2003,
Californians averaged more than 10
billion recycled CRV containers per
year. When CRV increased to 4 cents (8
cents on larger containers) in 2004, the
number jumped to 12 billion recycled.
Most beverages
packaged in glass, aluminum and plastic
-- such as soft drinks, water, beer,
sports drinks, juices and coffee and tea
drinks -- are included in the CRV
program. Notable exceptions are milk,
wine and distilled spirits.
Californians have
several convenient options for recycling
and redeeming CRV bottles and cans,
primarily the approximately 2,100
certified recycling centers statewide.
Consumers who choose to forego
reclaiming their CRV have a variety of
recycling options, including
neighborhood curbside recycling programs
and various drop-off locations through
which bottles and cans are redeemed by
the entities that collect them. To find
the nearest certified recycling center,
curbside or drop-off program, visit
www.bottlesandcans.com or call the
Department of Conservation toll-free
hotline, 1-800-RECYCLE.
A recent recycling
innovation from DOC is the free
“Recycling Starter Kit” available to
businesses, schools, gyms, and office
buildings. California businesses
interested in starting a beverage
container recycling program can receive
the Recycling Starter Kit by ordering
online at
www.bottlesandcans.com or calling
1-800-RECYCLE.
All aspects of the
state’s beverage container recycling
program are paid for with unclaimed
refunds of CRV beverage containers, at
no cost to the state's general fund.
In addition to
promoting beverage container recycling,
the Department of Conservation maps and
studies earthquakes and other geologic
phenomena; classifies areas containing
mineral deposits; ensures reclamation of
land used for mining; regulates oil, gas
and geothermal wells; and administers
agricultural and open-space land
conservation programs.
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