Dive Brief:
- A man in Oakland, California may get slammed with a 6-month jail sentence for accepting payment for1,800 pounds of aluminum cans he transported from Washington to California.
- Mario Nolasco and accomplices received an estimated $329,887 for the cans. They loaded the cans in Washington, which has no redemption program, and brought them for redemption in California. The California Redemption Value (CRV) program pays 10 cents per beverage container upon redemption.
- The recycling agency was alerted to the scene, and set up a sting operation in January, after the suspects allegedly sold 9,000 pounds of aluminum for $13,320.
Dive Insight:
Nolasco pleaded no contest to felony charges. He has been offered a deal to repay $146,000 in restitution to CalRecycle, 178 days in jail and five years in probation. Accomplices of this crime were also convicted. One received 120 days in jail and five years of probation, and two additional participants will each spend 76 days in jail and three years of probation.
The state reported that between $40 and $200 million in fraudulent payments have been made each year and CalRecycle has worked to crack down on the trend. In December, officials announced a daily limit on redemptions at recycling centers. During that same period, two recycling centers in California were found guilty of fraud. The facilities had collected almost $2 million in illegal claims.
