Jan 19 - Recycling Center Closures Jeopardize Recycling Program

Closures of supermarket-site recycling centers makes it difficult for California consumers to redeem their beverage containers. California's Bottle Bill requires retailers that reside in supermarket "zones" unserved by a recycling center to redeem containers in-store. Many of these stores do not accept beverage containers, writes David Danelski writes in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

California's Bottle Bill has a budget shortfall and has stopped paying recycling centers, largely because of almost $500 million in loans paid to the General Fund. Governor Schwarzenegger recently vetoed SB 402, which would have brought program incomes and expenditures back into balance.