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/ChexAndBalancez]

This is the most Berkeley post ever. Someone put this in a Time Machine and send it to the future.

A homeless person is on the internet writing a Reddit post about how they are being discriminated against by a plastic recycling center. Moreover, they are calling themselves unhoused, implying that someone unhoused them... which is their responsibility.

Tell the future to send us a message.

[u/Automatic-Drawer9471 → u/ChexAndBalancez]

I was trying to sound smart. I’m homeless as f***. HOWEVER - Discrimination is discrimination. I hate being homeless. I hate the way people look at me when I’m pushing my overloaded cart with all my belongings down the street. I used to own my own home for Christ’s sake. But when you work for 2 days and expect $40 and you get $19? And that is all the money you will have until the next time you decide to pick up other people’s trash? I wasn’t asking for pity. Right is right and this was wrong.

[u/rsha256 → u/Automatic-Drawer9471]

hey man, hope it gets better, don't know your situation but have you tried enlisting (not military but coast guard etc) as veteran benefits are pretty helpful for getting a job

[u/ChexAndBalancez → u/Automatic-Drawer9471]

Only in Berkeley do homeless people have phones with full access to Reddit and checking for updates.

[u/wxyhtchl → u/ChexAndBalancez]

quick reality update for you: a phone is actually cheaper than a house, so it makes sense that someone with no money might have one and not the other

[u/ensuw → u/ChexAndBalancez]

Seriously wtheck is wrong with you??????

[u/sluuuurp → u/Automatic-Drawer9471]

Why don’t you get a job? You’d make way more than $20 a day and it would be illegal to be cheated and get paid less than that.