County of Los Angeles Departmental Recycling Program

Beverage Container Recycling


The benefits of recycling beverage containers are many. It saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and conserves natural resources!

Get 5¢ when you recycle beverage containers 24 ounces or less and 10¢ for each container greater. To find a recycling center in your area, visit CalRecycle's Recycling Centers page. For additional recyclers, visit our Smart Business Recycling website.

Los Angeles County Departments

  • To request a recycling bin, contact your Department’s recycling coordinator who will submit the request to cdrp@pw.lacounty.gov.
    • To find your Department recycling coordinator, click here.
    • For details about the recycling bins, click here.

TIPS:

  1. Avoid placing cardboard bins near water sources, damaged vents, heat sources, fuel sources, and electrical outlets.
  2. Use a bin liner.
  3. Replace cardboard bins when damaged by liquid or pests.

FACTS (source calrecycle.ca.gov):

  • In California, about 27.8 billion California Refund Value (CRV) eligible containers were sold in 2022.
  • Of those, more than 19.6 billion were recycled.
  • And the 3 billion that ended up in landfills or littered? You could use them to fill every lane of a more than 700-mile length of Interstate 5...almost a foot deep.
  • CRV refunds are available to anyone--consumers, companies, or nonprofits--who returns bottles and cans to a recycling center.
  • For every 10 pounds of aluminum you recycle, you eliminate 37 pounds of carbon emissions from the air.
  • For every 10 pounds of clear plastic water or soda bottles, 3.3 pounds of carbon emissions disappear.
  • Although glass bottles are a lot heavier, each 10 pounds recycled still reduces carbon by nearly a pound.
  • In a landfill, aluminum cans take 80-100 years to break down.
  • Plastic bottles hang around as long as 700 years.
  • Glass bottles spend 1 million years waiting around to decompose.

Listen to Dodgers Reporter, David Vassegh’s interview with the Director of Public Works:







Bottles