California recycling deposit scheme back on track

In California residents receive cash payments of 4 cents for every 24 oz sized container they take back for recycling, and 8 cents for every container larger than 24 oz that they take to a recycling centre (see letsrecycle.com story).

”It's heartening to see recycling on the rise and this should serve as a reminder to everyone to recycle wherever you live, work and play.“
– California secretary of resources Mike Chrisman
According to the Department of Conservation statistics released this week, Californians recycled 5.8 billion CRV bottles between January and July of this year, the most ever for a six month period.

If the trend continues for the second half of the year, the figures suggest the Sunshine State will have recycled 11 billion containers this year, more than 1 billion more bottles and cans in 2004 than in 2003.

California secretary of resources Mike Chrisman said: “Recycling bottles and cans is one of the many ways Californians can express their commitment to the state's environmental and natural resources.

“It's heartening to see recycling on the rise and this should serve as a reminder to everyone to recycle wherever you live, work and play.”

Improvement

Overall the recycling rate of CRV containers for the first six months of 2004 was 63%, for the whole of 2003 the rate was 55%, although it was at 58% at last year's midway point. This marked the lowest annual recycling rate recorded since the programme began in 1987.

In America many people believe that the increase in the recycling rate was because the value of the refund was increased in January this year. In 2003 residents received 2.5 cents for containers under 24 oz and 5 cents for containers larger than 24 oz.

More than 19 billion CRV bottles and cans will be sold in California this year. Any containers that aren't recycled represent hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed CRV that should be going back to the State. In 2003, around eight billion bottles and cans were thrown away, worth an estimated $300 million in unclaimed refunds.