Recycling cans and bottles in California? You could soon get double the money for it

Californians looking to recycle their cans and bottles for money could soon earn double the money for doing so, for a limited time.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, also known as CalRecycle, on Friday announced a new budget proposal, subject to legislative approval, to allot $100 million into a program to temporarily double the state’s California Redemption Value for cans and bottles

The current rate is 5 cents for each beverage container under 24 ounces and 10 cents for each container 24 ounces or greater. That would be doubled under the new proposal.

CalRecycle Director Rachel Machi Wagoner said that it’s all part of an effort to expand recycling in the Golden State. While the state has been hovering around 70% recycling rate, Wagoner said the state is hoping to get that number up to 80%.

To that end, CalRecycle also proposes spending $155 million to expand mobile recycling in rural and under-served parts of the state and to install reverse vending machines where customers can cash in their bottles and cans.

The money comes from a massive influx of revenue to the department from beverage container purchases over the course of the pandemic.

“We have a surplus of over $600 million in this fund right now,” Wagoner said.

Californians recycled 18.5 billion bottles and cans from July 2020 through June 2021, an increase of about 800 million from the previous fiscal year.

“These are Californians’ dollars and we want them to go back to Californians,” Wagoner said.

Wagoner said the increase would last until the money runs out.

This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 11:49 AM.