Mar 9 - DOC Urged to Adjust Processing Payments to Offset Scrap Value Declines
Californians Against Waste is urging the Department of Conservation to adjust processing payments to recyclers to reflect the recent decline in scrap values. Processing payments are used to offset the difference between the cost to recycle Bottle Bill beverage containers and the scrap value of therecycled material.
The DOC is currently paying a processing payment based on a scrap value that is 4 times the actual current scrap value, due to the timing of DOC's survey period. That means PET and HDPE recyclers are losing more than $4.5 million every month. The DOC has the authority to adjust the processing payment to reflect this drastic change in market conditions beginning April 1, and should do so.