Truckloads Of Recyclables Brought To CA In $10M Fraud Scheme: AG

LOS ANGELES — Six people were arrested and charged with felony fraud after prosecutors said they brought truckloads of bottles and cans to recycling centers in Southern California, raking in more than $10 million.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta and CalRecycle director Rachel Machi Wagoner announced the arrests Wednesday, saying 9 tons of out-of-state recyclables were fraudulently brought from Arizona to California.

The defendants were charged with recycling fraud and grand theft. They were identified in court documents as Miguel Aguirre, 42; Juan Gutierrez, 47; Martin Ornelas Silva, 30; Jose Gonzalez, 50; Walter Reyes, 29; and Celso Gonzalez Reyes, 26.

Arizona does not have a recycling program that allows people to redeem recyclable bottles and cans for money. In California, however, CalRecycle operates the California Redemption Value program, where people can redeem them for a 5- or 10-cent return at privately-owned centers. California consumers subsidize the program when they buy eligible bottles and cans in the state.

But only material from California is eligible for redemption. A California Department of Justice investigation spanning seven months beginning in September uncovered a scheme in which the six people brought truckloads of aluminum cans and plastic bottles from Arizona to California and unlawfully redeemed them.

Semitrailers, box trucks and vans traveled from Arizona to California, including to centers in Commerce, Los Angeles, Vernon and Ontario, prosecutors said.

Bonta, the attorney general, said that when people skirt the state's recycling laws, consumers are hurt in the process.

“The California Redemption program is an important tool in our efforts to encourage recycling, reduce waste, and address climate change," Bonta said. "My office will continue to fiercely defend California's programs and resources — and we will hold bad actors who defraud our state accountable."

Wagoner, the CalRecycle director, said the program helped the state recycle 454 billion bottles and cans and reduced trash pollution.

“Beverage deposits belong to Californians and the state will continue to actively protect these funds," she said.