Dec 15

State of California CalRecycle Hits CVS With $3.6 Million Enforcement Action

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CVS Refuses To Refund Bottle Deposits to Consumers Triggering Massive Fine

Snared by State Regulations

As we have seen, the collapse of California’s Recycling program has caused problems and huge losses in many sectors.  The closing of Recycling giant RePlanet and many other recycling centers like the huge Santa Monica Recycling Center was the end result of gross mismanagement by various City and State Bureaucrats.  The head of CalRecycle is said to be resigning at the end of the year.  Meanwhile, consumers struggle to find places to redeem their bottles and cans.  Stores and chains that refuse to pay back the deposits/or send a $100 per day extortion fee to the State are being fined, like the recent CVS $3.6 million.

How did we get to this point?  Certainly the Federal Government bears some responsibility.  The China trade war resulted in China stopping and/or slowing its massive buying of recycled products from the U.S.  “We don’t want your trash” they said.  Part of that problem would be the big exporters dumping too much contaminants into the loads.  Part is retaliation for U.S. trade sanctions.  A big slow-down of China purchases of scrap caused the prices to fall, putting pressure on our recycling industry.  The big losers in all this are not just RePlanet type shops, but the cunsumers have been really screwed.

The State of California, meanwhile, continues to rake in the bucks.  They make money either way.  Now that hundreds of recycling centers have closed, payouts for redeeming bottles and cans go down, but income from charging consumers 5 and 10 cents per container continues to pour in to State coffers by the millions.  A bigger profit for the greedy State.  Plus they now can collect millions more by fining the stores for not complying with the rules.  The chains and convenience stores did not see this coming, and they didn’t want to have to take back cans and bottles, it’s at times a logistical nightmare for them.

Plus, the State makes even more money by telling consumers to dump their recycled cans and bottles into the “Blue Bins” run by the cities, more money for their partners in this scam, the local cities.  This big mess calls the whole program into question.  Why should the State be involved at all?  Why not let consumers not pay ANY deposit, and just run campaigns to push them to recycle at scrap yards for market prices?  The retailers, stores and chains would be very happy with this.  The consumers would be happy not to pay the deposit.  The thieves who smuggle in millions of bottles to California scrap yards from other states would be out of business.  More scrap yards will open up to process the bottles and cans.  Low income and homeless could once again make a few bucks and get some exercise hunting for scrap.

California should shut down this program.  They can do better by just being cheerleaders for recycling and helping and encouraging the recycling industry to make advancements.  The bottle deposit scam should end now.

Oct 13

California Recycling Program – Exposing The Aluminum Can Scam

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As More Information Comes Out It Is Clear That Consumers Are Being Skinned

by Paul Hunt

In past posts we have shown that the State of California’s Recycling Program has cheated consumers in many ways, the latest being to destroy the network of their own sub-contractors and squeezing them until they were forced to close.  Not only was RePlanet pushed out, but cities like Santa Monica also closed their entire recycling yard.  We exposed their FRAUD in their own words and documents.  And now another part of it has come to light.

The once bustlling  Santa Monica yard is now silent. All employees have lost  their jobs.

This is regarding the aluminum cans.  Although the State makes you pay five cents recycling deposit for each can, they make it very hard for you to return the can to get your money back.  By gutting out the RePlanet and recycling centers, there are only a few places left to recycle cans.  And now it is revealed that in the last few years THE CAN MANUFACTURERS HAVE MADE THE CANS THINNER AND LIGHTER.  The figure is 40% thinner and lighter!  This means that if you go to a recycling yard and turn in aluminum cans you will be paid by WEIGHT, now 40% LESS than years gone by.  The only way to get your money back is to go to a place that will refund the CRV deposit completely, five cents per can, not by weight.  But California is SO SORRY, almost all those places have been closed.  Now they are talking it up in the CORRUPT State Legislature to RAISE the CRV price per can, SO THEY CAN CHEAT YOU OUT OF EVEN MORE MONEY!

You don’t have to go to a third world country to find corruption.  Mass fraud and cheating is right here in California.

Aug 07

Secret List of Locations To Get Your Deposts Back (CRV)

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Use This List To Find Stores In California That Have Signed Forms With the State of California Obligating Them to Return Deposits

Don’t Look at this list – It’s a Secret List.

Check the list.  “Option A” stores and markets MUST give you your money back.  “Option B” stores do not have to because they pay the State $100 per day to opt out.  Print out this list and keep it with you.

List of redemption locations

Aug 07

Recycling Collapses in California – Huge Crises

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rePlanet Closes All Recycling Centers – 800 Employees Laid Off – Consumers Have Nowhere To Go To Get Deposit Money Back.

Conspiracy Theories Deepen as CalRecycle knew that rePlanet was running at a loss for years and refused to help.

The giant recycling Company rePlanet has closed down.  It was running at a loss for quite some time, and it was up to the State of California’s CalRecycle to help them out.  Because the big grocery chains and the gas station stores and the 7-11 stores lobbied so they would not have to bear an unreasonable cost and hassle to take care of the recycling bottles and cans and returning deposits, companies like rePlanet took up the challenge.  The problem was rising costs, rising wages, and now facing a 25% tariff tax on all recyclables going to China, they needed financial help from the State.  Not enough was offered, so down they went, and now almost 1,500 recycling outlets have closed down in the last few years.

The State, however, is laughing all the way to the bank.  They get all the money from the CRV deposits and make even more money because they don’t have to pay it back to the consumer.  They make some $200,000,000 per year on this.  This is now a serious fraud on the California consumer, who pays a deposit and now can’t find a place to get their money back.

And then there are the cities, many of whom have closed down their recycling yards.  They now get all their bottles and cans FREE in the blue recycle bins, and SELL them to the State of Callifornia, thereby making millions of dollars.

Read our other posts on this, and also go to www.SouthlandNewsBureau for more..

Also check out www.container-Recycling.org for more information

Jun 21

Documents Prove Bottle Deposit Conspiracy Against Consumers

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Official Documents From Santa Monica Prove Conspiracy With State Politicians To Cheat Consumers Out of Millions of Dollars

Official Document Directs Consumers To Use City Blue Containers Instead of getting back CRV Deposit

Official Documents from the City of Santa Monica proves the despicable conspiracy with the State politicians to cheat consumers, homeless, and low-income folks out of millions of dollars.  Document #1 (above) gives notice that the BuyBack Center, located at 2411 Delaware Ave., Santa Monica, would permanently close on June 15th.  Note lower down the page where we have placed a red arrow, the City directs consumers to put their bottles and cans in the city (blue) recycle bins for free, not collecting back their CRV deposit.

This cynical conspiracy first started by closing 1,000 recycling centers, including the huge Santa Monica buyback center where thousands of consumers, homeless, and low income folks came to get their deposit money for CRV bottles and cans.  Then the City directs consumers to give them all their CRV bottles and Cans for free.  The State of California collects untold millions of dollars for deposits on cans and bottles, so by choking off the process of returning the CRV deposits that they in effect are holding “in trust” from the consumer, they stand to gain huge amounts of cash for a slush fund for greedy Sacramento politicians.

According to Consumer Watchdog, the State has already amassed hundreds of millions of dollars with the CRV program, simply because most consumers are too lazy or busy to bother with keeping track and returning bottles and cans to get their deposit back.  Over the years, the State has made it increasingly difficult for consumers to return the bottles and cans.  First they allowed markets, liquor stores, gas stations, and other outlets to SELL bottles and cans of water and beverages, but stopped forcing these same locations to ACCEPT the cans back and redeem their deposits.  Then the State contracted with some private company to put in a few machines here and there where consumers could drop in their cans and bottles and get a receipt that would be cashed (redeemed) by a local business or market.  The bad news for consumers is that the machines are not correctly programmed and so do not accept many qualified bottles and cans.  We proved that in 2010 by video taping bottles from Ralph’s Market that would not be accepted by the machines (see video link in previous article).  Ralph’s also refused to redeem the CRV bottles.  This was only one example out of many, many mistakes the machines would reject.

The machines also jam up frequently, and the company removed the custodians who they originally had to empty the machines.  Anyone watching this process for an hour or so will see that the machines can fill up in 30 minutes and then they are jammed for the rest of the day.  Consumers soon tire of haulig around their bottles and cans only to be met with defective, out of order machines.  Many of even these defective and sloppy operations have now been closed down.

By now closing down the big buyback centers, consumers, homeless and low-income folks now have nowhere to go in many areas.  On the West Side of L.A., with Santa Monica closed, there is nowhere to go west of the 405 freeway.  Which brings us to the final insult in Document #2, below:

The first red arrow shows just where your bottles and cans go, you know, the ones you are now GIVING the City FOR FREE.  They are collected by the City and given to a private “Recycling” company who then sells the bottles and cans back to industry.  It is not clear if this company is sorting out the CRV to sell back to the State of California. It should be noted that the CRV deposit is often more that the “per pound” price of plastic and aluminum.

The second red arrow points consumers to the “nearest” redemption centers, one in Cheviot Hills and one in Culver City.  Does anyone in their right mind think for one minute that consumers are going to drive all the way to Cheviot Hills to MAYBE get their CRV deposit back?  Can you envision some poor homeless bloke riding a bike with bags of bottles and cans all the way to Culver City?  This shameless plot against consumers highlights the class war that is going on.  The political elite and their fellow conspirators in Santa Monica City Council have just pulled off a huge heist of millions of dollars from an unknowing, hapless public.  The next question:  IS THERE AN HONEST DISTRICT ATTORNEY WHO WILL BREAK UP THIS CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY.?

The Santa Monica Buyback Center is now CLOSED.

The once bustlling yard is now silent. All employees will lose their jobs.

Jun 18

California State Massive Fraud Against Consumers

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Hundreds of Millions Stolen in Bottle Redemption Scam as Recycling Centers Are Closed

Homeless and Low Income Folks Shut Out of Recycling

With the closing this week of the Santa Monica Recycling Center, there is now no place to redeem your bottles and cans west of the 405 Freeway.  Not only has the State failed to return the money collected from consumers to help the local recycling centers, but a criminal conspiracy between the State of California, some of the large grocers, and certain trash waste haulers have put hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

Another side-effect is that many thousands of homeless folks, low income folks, and other citizens who make all or part of their meager living by picking up trash and bottles for recycling are finding it hard to keep doing it because over 40% of the recycling centers have closed down, meaning that in many areas there is nowhere to go to turn in your bottles and cans.  Collecting and redeeming bottles and cans brings in a small amount of coin for the poverty class.  Cheating the public in such a blatant way is one more example of the class war that is being conducted by the political elite in Sacramento and many other states..

Over 1,000 Redemption Centers closed in California

According to Susan Collins of  the Container Recycling Institute, over 1000 Redemption Centers have been recently closed.  All of us are forced to pay the CRV (recycling) fee when you buy water or beverages.  You pay 5 cents for small bottles and 10 cents for large containers.  You are entitled by law to get your  money back, but the State of California has found a way to cheat you by making it almost impossible to return the bottles.  When this program started years ago the merchant who sold you the beverage had to take the container back.  Then all the merchants were exempted due to lobbying by the big market chains because it was a bother for them..  The greedy crooks in California didn’t want to cut the markets in for their trouble in collecting the fees and then collecting the bottles back, so they then contracted out to some companies to install machines in some (not all) market locations.These machines were not programmed correctly, here’s a video we shot back in 2010 proving that Ralph’s market collected the CRV and then Rejected the bottle for a return credit.

Consumer Watchdog Accuses California of Breaking the Social Contract 

Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog, has accused the State of California of breaking the social contract with it’s citizens.  The Cal Recycle Agency is sitting on $360 Million Dollars, money they have collected from consumers they have cheated from getting their deposits back.  God knows how many more millions have been siphoned off or stolen.  For instance, who audits the tens of thousands of gas stations, small markets, large markets and other outlets who COLLECT the deposit money.  How much of that cash is actually just EMBEZZLED and never given to the State?  In addition, some independent recycling centers have been caught trucking in plastic bottles from Arizona and selling them to the State for CRV deposit.  The “per pound” price paid for plastic bottles can often be less than the California CRV, another way the consumer is cheated by this system.  The State also was cheated when recycling centers bought plastic bottles from out of state by the pound and sold them to California for the higher CRV.

Santa Monica Closes the Last Redemption Center on the Westside

Santa Monica, choked off from funds even though the gluttonous Governor and his cronies are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars of consumer paid in money, is closing the last Recycling Center on the Westside of Los Angeles.  The West L.A. area consumers pay around 6 million dollars a year for CRV deposits,  Now, there is nowhere close to go to get your money back.  Here’s a video of the closing, with Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog and Susan Collins of Container Recycling Institute:

Outrage over Santa Monica City Council Action Closing Center

With the Recycling Center now closed, thousands of homeless and low-income folks have nowhere to take bottles collected off streets.  Consumers have nowhere to get their deposits back.  The City, meanwhile pays trash haulers huge amounts to fill landfills.  The bottles and cans in trash trucks go mostly to landfills because they are contaminated inside the trucks.  The bottles and cans collected by the Recycling centers are generally clean and can be made into new bottles and cans.

The United States Attorney Must Investigate This Corruption in the State of Caifornia

The U.S. Attorney should launch a serious investigation into this multi-million dollar fraud.  Here’s some of the main points.

  1.  The State of California has committed massive fraud on it’s citizens and broken the law by cheating and scamming consumers out of hundreds of millions of dollars through devious means.
  2.  Investigate the large markets, the gas station stores and all stores selling beverages for signs of embezzling the cash from CRV deposits.
  3. Investigate the donations, cash and possible bribes from the trash hauling industry to politicians in Sacramento.
  4. Demand that all outlets that sell beverages must also redeem the CRV.
  5. Re-open enough recycling centers to handle the job.  It should not have to be a half a days trek to return a few bottles.
  6. .Investigate the Cal Recycle bureaucrats for misuse of funds, fraud on consumers, and provoking class war on homeless folks and low income folks who survive on doing society a big favor for very little money.
Apr 27

How To Live Out of a Back Pack – Part 3

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Shashi Harrie Shares Her Lifetime Experience – What to Pack to Live

Here’s the third and final part of the series on what of what to pack in your backpack to live anywhere in the world.  Shashi also discusses the problems of monkeys in India and warns about them.  Also check out your local REI store, she purchased a lot of her light weight stuff there.