Residents Notice Rise in Recycling Thefts

Hermosa Beach residents have noticed an increasing number of people around town picking through big blue recycling bins looking for items to trade in for cash. Such scavengers are violating the "Theft of Recyclables" state law and could be fined as much as $5,000 if caught by police.

"No person, other than the authorized recycling agent of the city or county, shall remove paper, glass, cardboard, plastic, aluminum or other recyclable materials...for the purposes of collection and recycling,"  the California Public Resources Code states.

 To catch these thieves, officers have relied mainly on complaints lodged by locals, Hermosa Beach Police Chief Greg Savelli said.

Hermosa Beach resident Dwayne Turner said that he made a complaint after an effort to discourage one local woman from scavenging for recyclables near Pier Plaza was unsuccessful.

"I tried telling her that it was illegal and she wouldn't believe me," he said. "That's public property, once a can or a bottle is in there, that belongs to the city, not you."

Resident Fred Tacker agreed, saying that Hermosans should be educated that removing such items is a state crime.

"It's like stealing money from the city," he said.

The city can make about $1,200 from one ton of recyclable aluminum. The same amount of glass yields $150, and a ton of plastic is $120, according to the Los Angeles Recycling Center.

With the monetary value of recyclables on the rise, and a slow economy leaving many people without jobs, recycling bin finds are becoming a means of support for some folks.

About 75 percent of homeless people in the Los Angeles area said that they depend on income from recycling to survive, according to a survey conducted by the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness. Whether or not the recycled goods were obtained illegally was not reported.

Because the state law on recyclable theft went into effect only in January, many people may be unaware of its existence and the distinction between legal and illegal activity.

Regardless of that, Tacker said, "I don't think it's right to steal from the bins."

People can legally turn trash into cash by saving their own plastic bottles, aluminum, cardboard and other items, or picking up items left as litter, and turning them into recycling centers.