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.
• Your department's Facilities Manager may arrange free collection with the County's sponsored non-profit organization:
• Los Angeles Conservation Corps: Karla Ramos at (213) 749-3601 ext. 227 or kramos@lacorps.org and Carla Alas at (213) 749-3601 ext.218 or calas@lacorps.org
• San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps: Carmen Gonzalez at (626) 594-4662 or cgonzalez@sgvccorps.org

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 21 billion California Refund Value (CRV) eligible containers were sold in 2013.
• Of those, more than 18 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.