With the threat of “proportional reductions” being imposed this July 2017, and in the continued effort to “fix” the Beverage Container Recycling Program (Bottle Bill), the Governor’s Administration and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) held a series of stakeholder meetings over the last two weeks to discuss potential reforms. These meetings were conducted to solicit feedback and discussions on the various concerns and options, with the end goal of providing a stable funding source to improve upon the collection and processing of beverage containers. Instead of a legislative proposal, however, Bottle Bill reform is planned to be included in the budget process, with the specifics included in the 2017-18 budget May Revise.
The Bottle Bill Program has been operating in a structural deficit for quite some time. Now that the recycling rate is so high (85 percent), the payments to consumers and the myriad of extra programs (i.e. city/county payments, handling fees, curbside supplemental payments, state educational program) exceeds the beverage container deposits that are uncollected. CalRecycle currently anticipates that funds will become insufficient for the extra programs, and will need to impose “proportionate reductions” beginning July 2017.
In addition, over the past twelve months, many rural counties have experienced closures of Certified Recycling Centers. This has occurred due to the crippling decline in scrap values, the fifteen month lag time in calculating “processing payments” (which are supposed to cover the gap between the actual and calculated scrap value), and the increase in the minimum wage. Low-volume recycling centers are finding it very difficult to remain open for business. Approximately one-third of the centers have now closed within the state, with the greatest impact felt in rural counties. These buy-back centers are critical to the recycling infrastructure.
RCRC staff has been involved in discussions of Bottle Bill reform for many years. There are many stakeholders involved with different perspectives that no progress has been made to date. There have been discussions of including additional beverages, expanding the container types, increasing the container fees, paying less per container than is collected per container ($0.05 in/$0.04 out), and even doing away with the program. RCRC staff will be submitting recommendations for program reform to improve on the recycling center infrastructure and to protect the city/county payment program.