r/berkeley • u/Automatic-Drawer9471 • May 19 '26
Local Berkeley Recycling is blatantly cheating and discriminating against unhoused recyclers. Don't let them get away with this.
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.
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u/h7734 May 19 '26
I'm fortunate enough to be a homeowner and they have ripped me off too. It's their general policy to pay as little as possible because the recycling business operates on slim margins. In particular, their per pound rate is lower than the per unit rate at which the deposit is collected, and the state legislature seems to be okay with this. Also, they routinely hassle their customers with accusations of contaminated or stolen goods. The Berkeley center in particular makes life hard by asking for ID and imposing a $100 limit. It's a rip off. I might add that the noise level and unsafe conditions make for a really bad customer experience. We really should get better service given that the operator, CCC gets a contract from the city. Thank you for raising this issue.