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Where Have All the CRVs Gone? The largest single recycling operator, rePlanet Recycling Centers, that had 600 locations in California, closed their last 284 centers on August 5, 2019, many of which were in Orange County. With fewer options, consumers have relinquished their CRV refunds to the trash haulers by resorting to single stream curbside collections. This CRV and material revenue is in addition to fees paid by residents to collect the recyclable materials. Waste haulers, including municipal haulers, were paid $146 million in 2020 for consumer CRV donated to their recycling bins at curbside and rural drop off locations.s The OCGJ discovered CalRecycle was exploring new ways to encourage recycling through five pilot programs. Recycle From Home in Irvine makes redemption of CRV as easy as taking out your trash. This report examines the issues and solutions behind recycling and CRV redemption and explores opportunities to expand innovative programs throughout the County. METHOD OF STUDY The OCGJ used a variety of methods to gather information for our investigation. • Interviews with individuals with expertise in state and local waste and recycling management. • Research about CRV, waste haulers, Convenience Zones, Cash for Trash, local newspapers, grant programs pertaining to Orange County and various sources relating to the overall operations of recycling and CRV fees. • Report studies from CalRecycle, Consumer Watchdog, and Container Recycling Institute (CRI). • Tours of Orange County landfills. • Review of various Assembly and Senate Bills pertaining to recycling. • Conducted a survey of Orange County cities recycling coordinators regarding their current CRV recycling programs. INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS CRV Redemption California's bottle and can recycling program was once considered successful. Today it has become a failed model. California now has a very inconvenient redemption structure compared to other states. As of May 2021, Californians have only one redemption center for about every 26,000 people. Oregon, in comparison, has 74 percent higher quantity of redemption centers than California,6 even though Oregon's population is one -ninth the size of California's. 5 For more on haulers and why consumers do not get back deposits, see: https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/news- story/opinion-why-californians-don't-get-thier-bottle-and-can-deposits-back_ 6 OBRC, Quarterly Report Q4 2020 2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury Page 5 City Council 7-7 9/20/2022