California governor passes measure to assist recycling centers

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a San Francisco assemblyman’s urgency measure to provide funding to bolster the shrinking presence of recycling centers in the state on Oct. 11. Assembly Bill (A.B.) 54, written by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), allocates $5 million to implement a mobile recycling pilot program administered by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). 

KNTV news, San Francisco, reports that the bill will go into effect immediately because it is an urgency measure. The bill was written in response to Ontario, California-based rePlanet LLC’s closure in August. rePlanet operated a network of beverage container redemption centers throughout the state. It ceased operations and closed all of its 284 recycling centers and processing facilities on Aug. 5. The company also terminated its entire workforce, numbering 750 people, throughout the state of California.

According to KNTV, the mobile pilot program funded by this new legislation provides five grants that local governments, nonprofit organizations and others can apply for in areas hit hardest by the rePlanet closures. Centers funded by the bill must be open at least eight hours during the weekend, when demand peaks, and at least one pilot location must be in a rural area. 

“A.B. 54 is an important stopgap measure to address the recent closures of recycling centers throughout the state,” Gov. Newsom wrote upon signing the bill. “The California Beverage Container Recycling Program has long faced structural challenges ad is in need of reform. I look forward to working with the legislature in the coming year on a comprehensive solution for this program as part of the ongoing discussion about the future of how we manufacture, reduce, reuse, recycle and compost materials in California.”