Fraud In Bottle Deposit System Out Of Control; Costing Consumers Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Annually, Consumer Watchdog Reveals
Los Angeles, CA---Recycling scams are costing California consumers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in nickel and dime deposits stolen through fraudulent bottle and can refunds, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Cash For Trash: Recycling Fraud In California
Recycling fraud is costing Californians hundreds of millions of dollars annually. This report explains the problem and how to fix it.
Not A Single Retail Store In San Francisco Has To Take Your Recycling Back; Watchdog Calls On Newsom To Engage on Bottle Deposit Bill
San Francisco, CA -- You can leave your heart in San Francisco, but now you can’t find a single grocery store or bodega in the city to return your bottles and cans for your nickel or dime CRV deposit.
In a blow to recycling, the state of California has let more than 400 grocery, liquor and other stores in San Francisco out of their obligations to redeem bottles and cans under the pretense that a pilot project, a mobile truck, would pick up the slack. The pilot project is not even up and running.
Delayed SF Mobile Pilot Program Could Cost State Big Bucks Once Launched
By Michael Finney, ABC 7 News
December 19, 2021
https://abc7news.com/sf-mobile-recycling-service-san-francisco-delay-ca…
New mobile recycling solution for San Francisco was announced in Feb. 2020. Almost two years later, no trucks have hit the streets.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- California's CRV recycling effort has issues and consumers feel ripped off.
Bottles And Cans
By Debrah Kahn, POLITICO PRO
December 6, 2021
California's dropping recycling rate is increasing its greenhouse gas footprint, according to a new analysis commissioned by the group Consumer Watchdog.
The state's recycling rate for containers was 58 percent last year, far below its goal of 80 percent, POLITICO's Debra Kahn reports. That means some 13.4 billion bottles and cans went unrecycled.
Failure of Bottle Deposit Program Costing Californians 750,000 Tons of Greenhouse Gases, The Equivalent of Putting More Than 160,000 New Cars On The Road
Los Angeles, CA — Inattention to California’s bottle deposit program is dramatically growing the state’s carbon footprint, according to analysis by the Container Recycling Institute (CRI).
KABC 790AM LA: CA Recycling Revamp Bill Dies in Legislature
By Frank Mottek, KABC 790AM LA
September 9, 2021
Frank chats with Consumer Watchdog's Jamie Court on why California's latest attempt to revamp it's broken bottle and can recycling system failed due to lobbying from the industry. Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
California Assembly Stops Bottle Deposit Bill Fix For 2021 As Redemption Rate Drops to 56%
Los Angeles, CA—The California Assembly refused to act on a budget proposal put forth by the Senate to shore up Californian’s collapsing bottle deposit system and to offer consumers convenient ways to return bottles and cans for deposit. The refusal comes as CalRecycle, the state’s regulator, reported the latest redemption rate—the rate at which consumer receive their CRV deposits back—fell to 56% for the month of June.
Assembly Member Richard Bloom’s Legislation Allows More Grocery Stores To Refuse to Take Back Empty Bottles and Cans During Recycling Crisis; Senior Speaks Out In New Video
Los Angeles, CA — Legislation backed by the waste hauling industry and authored by Santa Monica Assembly Member Richard Bloom would make fewer grocery and other retail stores available to the public to accept empty cans and bottles and redeem California Redemption Value (CRV) deposits of a nickel or dime.
Bill Assigning Responsibility For Recycling Bottles & Cans To Beverage Industry Passes CA Senate In Major Consumer Victory
Sacramento, CA — SB 38 (D-Wieckowski), a bill to overhaul the state’s bottle deposit program by forcing the beverage industry to create an accessible recycling and redemption system for its bottles and cans, passed the Senate 23 to 8 in a major victory for consumers and the environment, Consumer Watchdog said today. The bill now heads to the Assembly.
Waste Haulers Are Driving California’s Bottle Deposit System Failure, New Report Reveals, As Lawmakers Consider System Run By Beverage Industry
Los Angeles, CA— A muckraking report on the reasons for the failure of California’s bottle deposit system, which currently has a 57% redemption rate, puts the blame on the waste hauling industry.
Undercover Video Shows West LA Senior Citizen Illegally Refused Bottle and Can CRV Deposit By Grocers Due To “Covid,” Stockpiles Thousands of Cans
Los Angeles, CA — Nancy Hannickel, 75, a long-time resident of West Los Angeles, has bags of thousands of bottles and cans in her yard that carry a California Redemption Value (CRV) of a nickel or a dime. But she can’t get those nickel and dime deposits refunded—anywhere in West LA.
Bill To Save Collapsing Bottle Deposit System Passes First Legislative Hurdle
Los Angeles, CA — SB 38 (D- Wieckowski), a bill to save the collapsing bottle deposit system by putting the responsibility for recycling empty CRV containers onto the beverage industry, passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee today in a decisive first step towards modernizing California’s rigid and antiquated system, Consumer Watchdog said today.
The bill, which passed by a vote on 5 to 2, next goes to Senate Appropriations Committee.
75% of Whole Foods Markets Abandon Bottle and Can Recycling As Redemption Rate Sinks To 58% And Groups Back Fundamental Deposit Reform
Los Angeles, CA— With redemption centers closing at a record pace, now major supermarket chains that must choose to either redeem bottle deposits in store or pay a daily fee to the state are buying their way out of in-store redemption in record numbers.
75% of Whole Foods Market stores have opted out of having to recycle. With few places to get their bottle and can deposits returned, California’s redemption rate for 2020 has sunk to a low of 58%, leaving it third to last among ten bottle deposit states.
Consumer Redemption Rate Stands At 58.9%; Governor And Legislature Must Make Bottle Returns Convenient, Says Consumer Watchdog
Los Angeles, CA — The latest data on the bottle and can redemption rate for 2020 for the first eleven months, put out by the Governor’s recycling regulator CalRecycle, show that only 58.9% of Californians who pay deposits on beverages from beer to sodas are directly claiming deposit refunds, Consumer Watchdog said today. The rate is a full 10% less than what it was at the beginning of 2020 and does not appear to be recovering.
Consumer Bottle Redemption Rate Falls To 58%, Major Overhaul Of Container Recycling Program Inescapable, Says Consumer Watchdog
Los Angeles, CA — Between July and September of 2020, the rate of consumer redemption of empty beverage containers fell another two percentage points to 58%, according to beverage sales data from CalRecycle, the state’s overseer of the bottle deposit program.
That means 42% of annual consumer bottle deposits—or about $546 million paid through September this year—is not being returned to consumers who could really use that money, according to Consumer Watchdog.
Big Drop In California Redemption Rate? State And Group Don’t Agree
By Colin Staub, RESOURCE RECYCLING
November 3, 2020
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2020/11/03/big-drop-in-califor…
Advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog recently noted the COVID-19 pandemic has slashed California’s beverage container recycling rate. But the state’s recycling agency called that analysis “inaccurate.”
Redemption Rate For Empty Bottles And Cans Sinks To 60% As Consumers Forfeit $60 Million in Deposits Refunds
Los Angeles, CA—State data show that California consumers left $60 million in unredeemed bottle and can deposits with the state in the first six months of 2020 as the redemption rate for consumers plunged to 60.2% from 66% in the face of the pandemic and a deepening economic crisis for redemption centers.
Data published by the state recycling regulator, CalRecycle, show:
Consumer Watchdog Urges Legislative Leaders To Reject Last Minute Raid By Waste Haulers On Consumer Bottle Deposit Funds
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog urged Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to shut down a last-minute attempt by waste haulers, grocers and recyclers to steal consumers’ bottle deposit refunds and make the system less available to them, the group said.
Consumer Watchdog Warns Newsom Continued Emergency Exemption Of Retailers From Recycling Will Eviscerate Bottle Deposit System
Los Angeles, CA— The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog called on Governor Gavin Newsom not to give retailers another exemption from their duty to refund bottle and can deposits, warning it could decimate the fragile deposit system.
CA Governor Exempts Supermarkets From Bottle Deposit Refunds For Another 60 Days In Loss For Consumers And The Environment, Says Consumer Watchdog
Los Angeles, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom gave supermarkets and other dealers of beverages carrying a five or ten cent deposit another 60-day reprieve on refunding deposits, putting greater pressure on too few redemption centers to serve millions of Californians. California now joins Iowa’s Republican Governor as the only states letting the retailers off the hook for redeeming bottles.
CalRecycle Approves Two CRV Pilot Projects
California is exploring new models to boost consumer access to California Redemption Value (CRV) bottles and cans.
By Megan Smalley, RECYCLING TODAY
February 17, 2020
https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/calrecycle-approves-two-crv-pilo…
[Keen To Be Green] Reducing Our Recyclables
By Meher McArthur, LOZ FELIZ LEDGER
January 30, 2020
https://www.losfelizledger.com/keen-to-be-green-reducing-our-recyclable…
Last year, California lost almost 300 recycling centers when the recycling center chain RePlanet closed in August, citing decreasing prices for aluminum and PET plastic and rising operating costs and wages.
Wine & Beverage Industry Stops Bill To Overhaul and Expand Bottle Deposit System On Senate Floor
Los Angeles, CA — A major reform bill to fix California’s broken bottle deposit system and get consumers back hundreds of millions in unredeemed deposits failed in the California Senate today after the wine and liquor industry joined with the beverage industry to unleash their lobbyists against the proposal. The bill is now on the inactive file after failing on the floor last night with 17 votes in favor.
Bill To Overhaul Bottle Deposit System Passes Out Of Senate Committee
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said in testimony today before the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on bottle deposit reform legislation, SB 372, that it is time for the beverage industry to take responsibility for recycling the empties that their beverages leave behind, as is done in all other successful bottle deposit programs here and around the world.
Consumer Watchdog Warns Of Bottle Deposit System Collapse Without Major Reform
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog reported today that a major overhaul of the state’s once-vaunted bottle deposit system is needed to make drink makers responsible for refunding deposits or consumers will continue to lose a greater share of the roughly $1.5 billion a year they pay in nickel and dime deposits. Redemption centers that redeem bottle and can deposits are closing in the face of economic hardship.
Consumer Watchdog Applauds CalRecycle’s $3.6 Million Fine Against CVS For Failing To Redeem Bottle Deposits
Says Big Win For Consumers Must Be Followed With Continued Enforcement
Los Angeles, CA -- After years of paltry enforcement of California’s 1986 bottle deposit law against stores selling beverages that charge bottle deposits but don’t return them, CalRecycle signaled today that it means business with a $3.6 million fine against CVS stores, Consumer Watchdog said today.
You Can't Save The World If You Can’t Get Recycling Right
Op-Ed by Susan Shelley, THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
November 27, 2019
https://www.dailynews.com/2019/11/27/you-cant-save-the-world-if-you-can…
Recycling is garbage.
That’s rapidly becoming the only logical conclusion to draw from a series of failed and failing policies that seem to be throwing your money in the trash.
Consumer Watchdog Welcomes Resignation of CalRecycle Director, Recycling Agency Shakeup
Los Angeles, CA—Consumer Watchdog welcomed the resignation today of the CalRecycle Director as a first step in overhauling the troubled agency in charge of the state’s failing bottle deposit system. CAL-EPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld confirmed the resignation to Consumer Watchdog this afternoon.
CA Leg Compromise Gets $10 Million More For Recycling Centers, Small Exemption for Grocers
Sacramento, CA — Amendments to AB 54 (Ting) last night freed $5 million for beleaguered consumer recycling centers, seeming to seal what appears to be a short-term band-aid for recycling center problems until a larger solution is developed next year. AB 54 already provided $5 million for mobile recycling and a short few months exemption for grocers affected by August recycling center closures that would otherwise have to redeem bottle and can deposits earlier.
Grocers Launch Last-Week-Of-Session Attack on Bottle Deposit Law
Seek Exemption From Recycling Responsibilities As Consumers Turn To Stores For Deposits
Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today condemned eleventh-hour legislation by Senator Steve Glazer, SB 643, that would exempt thousands of grocery stores statewide from the obligation to recycle consumers’ bottles and cans and return their five and ten cent deposits. The bill was amended Saturday to be heard during the last five days of the legislative session.
Consumer Watchdog Urges Governor To Take Urgent Steps On Recycling
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog today urged Governor Newsom to crack down on the state’s recycling regulator CalRecycle and to take urgent steps that save the state’s bottle deposit program in the long and short term.
“The closure of the largest recycling chain in the state, rePlanet, has cut the number of recycling centers available to Californians in half over the last six years,” Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court wrote in a letter to Governor Newsom. “CalRecycle has long known about these problems, but it has failed to act.
California’s Biggest Bottle Redemption Center Chain Closes
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog said the closure of the largest operator of bottle redemption centers in the state, rePlanet, today requires the Governor to prioritize recycling reform in the coming months. rePlanet closed its last 284 centers today, leaving consumers with few places to receive bottle and can deposit refunds.
Consumer Watchdog called for CALRecycle, the state agency in charge of recycling, to immediately require every grocery and convenience store chain to begin redeeming bottles and cans.
Consumer and Recycling Advocates Condemn Loss of Last Recycling Center West of 405 Freeway
Santa Monica, CA --- At the site of the soon-to-be shuttered Santa Monica Community Recycling Center, consumer advocates called on California lawmakers and regulators to rescue the failing redemption industry. The center, closing Saturday, is the last redemption center west of the 405, serving 200,000 people on LA's Westside.
Consumer Watchdog Urges Immediate Budget Fix to Save CA Recycling Program; In Crisis After Grocers Kill Life Line For Centers In Legislature
Los Angeles, CA—Consumer Watchdog has asked the Newsom Administration to avert the closure of more recycling centers that redeem empty glass, aluminum, and plastic beverage containers by funding centers long enough to reform the container deposit system.
Consumer and Recycling Advocates Condemn Loss of Last Recycling Center West of 405 Freeway
Santa Monica, CA --- At the site of the soon-to-be shuttered Santa Monica Community Recycling Center, consumer advocates called on California lawmakers and regulators to rescue the failing redemption industry. The center, closing Saturday, is the last redemption center west of the 405, serving 200,000 people on LA's Westside.
Consumer Watchdog Report Shows 66% of Grocery Stores Surveyed Refused to Recycle
Update 4/24/19 5 PM: Senator Stern agreed to amend his legislation to remove more exemptions from recycling for grocery stores in response to the survey.
Los Angeles, CA — Two thirds of fifty Los Angeles-area grocery, convenience and drug stores that are required by the state to refund consumer deposits for empty beverage containers refused to issue refunds, according to a random audit in Los Angeles by Consumer Watchdog.
Watchdog Report Finds California Consumers Lose Half Of Every Nickel Bottle Deposit
Los Angeles, CA—For every nickel bottle or can deposit that California consumers pay in the grocery store checkout line, they only get back 2.65 cents, or 53%, of their deposit, according to an investigative report on the state’s beverage container recycling system.
The report by the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog finds that of the $1.5 billion consumers pay in deposits, they leave $732 million behind.
