Young Turks: California Illegal Recycling Ring Busted - 31 Arrested

[CherylK]

Run time: 05:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU2lFwrh8sQ   Posted on YouTube: May 15, 2010 By YouTube Member: TheYoungTurks Views on YouTube: 8400   Posted on DU: May 17, 2010 By DU Member: CherylK Views on DU: 1302

 
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15031255

[jp11]

1. What a load!

I don't even know how it is possible to illegally recycle when you turn it over to a 'legal recycling company/agency', this is about the money that is all. CA wants to pay the people for the plastic/metal these people brought discarded plastic/metal to them and got paid how was there a law broken? Once plastic/metal is in CA it falls under their recycling program does it not? Whether I buy a bottle of water in Oregon, Nevada or Arizona and drive into CA aren't I 'legally recycling' it when I turn it in for cash or is that breaking the law?

[christx30]

2. In CA,

don't you have to pay a deposit for the can/bottle that you get back when you recycle? Maybe that was the "big deal" of the thing. Getting the money for turning it in and not paying anything to get it out?
I don't know. I think arresting these guys is stupid. The material gets out of a landfill and gets put into other products. That's the important part of the thing to me. I think it should be lauded and not punishable by law.

[izquierdista]

3. Not American heroes

Mexican heroes. I will bet that the other 29 who were not named in the news footage are also Hispanic, probably from Mexico, and in all likelihood sending remittances back south of the border. America is becoming as class conscious as India, and these are the "untouchables". The only thing left is for your caste to be determined from birth.

[Devil_Fish]

4. Is'nt the law that once you put your garbage out on the curb it's free for any one to sift through?

I'd like to see what exact law was broken here. I think this is bull shit. If the garbage company wanted the scrap that bad, they should furnish locking boxes that are cemented in the ground, or alternativly it should be posted that this is the garbage companies property.

[pezDispenser]

5. As an earlier commenter said.

The $0.10 is just a deposit you pay when you buy the bottle in CA. When you turn that bottle back in, you get your deposit back. Fairly logical law, CA can't be expected to return a deposit on bottles they never collected a deposit for. I think there was an Seinfeld episode on this same scam - Kramer and Newman.

[Merlot]

6. My neighborhood doesn't have recycling bins

and every morning I see the same people going through the trash bins - digging through our trash - to find the recyclables. One day I noticed a cop walking around the trash bins and he asked me if I had ever seen anyone digging thought the trash. I told him yes I had, and what did it hurt? They were nice, quiet, and respectful. He said that someone had complained and technically it's illegal.

sigh.

On the other hand, I don't think bringing it across state lines is a good idea. In CA we pay a deposit, and if the state of CA starts paying out money for bottles they haven't collected a deposit on it seems like that would mess up the accounting and put them (even deeper) in the red. So I do have mixed feelings about that part. But as for locals digging through garbage, I say thanks for doing my recycling!

[Michigan-Arizona]

7. Year's ago I did something similiar

We lived in Michigan, bought pop from Toledo, Ohio because it was way cheaper. Ohio bottle's were no return but they did have a 10 cent Michigan return on them. As far as I know people still do that today that live close to the Michigan-Ohio border.