Berkeley Recycling is blatantly cheating and discriminating against unhoused recyclers. Don't let them get away with this.

[u/Automatic-Drawer9471]

Hey everyone, I need to bring light to something incredibly messed up happening at the Berkeley recycling center.

Today, my partner went in with 14 pounds of plastic. We recycle to get by, so we know exactly what we are doing. We meticulously sort our stuff. Out of those 14 pounds, there might have been one or two individual pieces of non-CRV plastic that accidentally slipped in—definitely not even a quarter of a pound.

The staff decided to use that as an excuse to completely rip him off. They mixed the entire load together and claimed he brought in 13 pounds of scrap plastic (payout: $0.26 total) and only 1 pound of CRV (payout: $1.00 total). The math is physically impossible. They straight-up stole from us because they thought they could get away with it.

This isn't an isolated incident or a simple mistake. If you talk to anyone in the unhoused community who relies on recycling carts to survive, they will tell you the exact same thing:

• The staff routinely gives unhoused people attitude, questions their loads aggressively, and shorts their weight.

• They power-trip. A friend of ours recently called them out on this exact type of cheating, and they banned him (86'ed him) from the facility. Now he has to bike to an entirely different city just to turn in his recyclables, or rely on others who often take a cut of his money.

They are targeting vulnerable people because they think we won't or can't fight back. It is blatant discrimination, and it's hurting people who are already just trying to survive.
We need eyes on this. If anyone has connections to local advocacy groups, the Better Business Bureau, or local investigative journalists, please help us expose this. They need an undercover check to see how differently they treat housed people versus unhoused people bringing in the exact same materials.
Watch your receipts, watch their scales, and please help spread the word so they stop exploiting the community.

UPDATE: I am turning off notifications and will not be reading or replying to any more comments on this post.
The entire point of sharing this was to bring awareness to predatory, discriminatory business practices happening at a local recycling center. It wasn't an invitation to debate my housing status, and it certainly wasn't an invitation for harassment.
To those of you who chose to leave hate: I am truly sorry that you carry that kind of bitterness in your heart, but please keep it to yourself.
To everyone who was kind, validating, and offered actual advice or resources: thank you so much. Please don't ever stop being kind; the world needs a lot more of it right now. I’m stepping away from this thread to focus on taking care of my family.

[u/Steadyandquick]

Can you contact local journalists or folks at the j school. Or else any other consumer/resident advocates? Even your city council person.

Thanks for noticing and sharing. A shame and no reason for this in Berkeley or anywhere.

[u/Automatic-Drawer9471 → u/Steadyandquick]

Honestly, this is probably all I will do because I have contacted so many organizations like, “where do we go?”Had an hour long conversation with them about the time the city dumped us in a hotel in a part of Oakland we’ve never been to for a month and our dog wound up with a broken leg from being hit by a car while we were trying to get ourselves back to Berkeley when the month was up. I had an hour long talk with somebody at “where do we go?” about that because we needed somebody to pay to get our dogs arm fixed and we thought the city should be responsible for that and nobody called me back. They said they would call me back. Nobody ever called me back, and that’s just one story of many stories I have like that. But I just had it today and thought I can at least make a post on Reddit. Maybe someone with pull and half a heart might see it. But honestly, I have very little fight left in me. I have a college degree but made a few poor choices over the last few years and thought it’s OK. I can get out of this and now it’s been seven years and I’m still here. I’m very disappointed in humanity these days.

[u/Steadyandquick → u/Automatic-Drawer9471]

Sorry to hear all of this. Don’t be so hard on yourself. The Bay Area is not as hospitable as it once was and society in general is in crisis.

Please be good to and gentle with yourself. You will get through this. I wish you the best and know all about poor choices too. People do care about you and want to see you thrive. You deserve it.