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New Hope for CRV Recycling?
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alifornia rural counties will have new tools to make California Redemption Value (CRV) recycling easier now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed North Coast Assemblymember Jim Wood’s CRV bill. Assembly Bill 1311 makes changes to the state’s recycling law to better meet the CRV recycling demands of California’s rural counties by allowing CRV redemption centers to operate by appointments, when necessary, and introduce bag drop-off CRV recycling, as well as allowing those centers to operate for less than 30 hours per week, options previously not allowed under California’s Bottle Bill. The bill comes as Humboldt County has spent more than a year without a certified CRV redemption center after the Humboldt Waste Management Authority shuttered its CRV services following an overwhelming demand that caused traffic hazards on Broadway in September of 2020. HWMA went to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (Cal Recycle) and asked to be allowed to set up appointments to meet the demand, but Cal Recycle denied the request because the department only enforces state law and can’t make any exceptions. The state law is extremely strict and, at the time, only allowed for walk-in CRV drop-offs.
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When the county lost its last CRV redemption center, the responsibility fell to grocers to collect, store, transport and redeem the 5- to 10-cent deposits paid by customers at the time of purchase, regardless of the original buying location. “The bottle bill is really prescriptive and (doesn’t allow for) a whole lot of flexibility, and Humboldt County is like the cradle of the recycling movement in California,” Wood told the Journal. “The Arcata Recycling Center started there, my predecessor was a part of the effort, they go way way back, and then, suddenly, we found ourselves in this situation where we don’t have a single recycling center that’s available to take redemptions back. It’s been a gradual erosion of the financial viability of recycling in California. “The Bottle Bill is complicated, there are big dollars at stake for some people and for (Humboldt) retailers and folks that are trying to do the right thing to get that redemption back that they paid, it’s really frustrating that there aren’t any facilities to accept it,” he says. Under the Bottle Bill, if grocers and retailers don’t or can’t collect CRV containers they must pay a fee of $100 per day, adding up to $3,000 per month and $36,000 a year. But even before the closure of HWMA’s CRV services, the Bottle Bill hadn’t been feasible for rural counties due to the high
Stephens Steps In: The city of Eureka has tapped Capt. Brian Stephens for the role of acting police chief as of Dec. 1, when current Chief Steve Watson’s resignation will take effect. The city said it expects to announce the appointment of an interim chief this month and City Manager Miles Slattery said he is grateful Stephens is “willing to serve” during the transition. POSTED 11.29.21
Keeping COVID Off Campus
File Humboldt State University announced that, beginning Dec. 1, visitors over the age of 12 coming on campus for events must show either proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result within the previous 72 hours. HSU students and staff are exempt from the requirement, as they’re already required to be fully vaccinated or test regularly. POSTED 11.29.21 transportation costs and the low value of commodities. The Bottle Bill formula for state subsidies is one-size-fits-all and HWMA was not receiving enough money from the CRV recycling market to make up for the low Cal Recycle subsidies, so it offset the costs with different service fees, which was the only way the CRV redemption services stayed open at the time.
Hambro’s Opening Delayed: It looks like Humboldt County residents will have to wait a bit longer to redeem their CRV recyclables close to home. Hambro Recycling’s minor-use permit to operate in the city of Arcata is being recommended for approval by the city’s planning commission Dec. 14, but the permit must then go to the California Coastal Commission and the center may not open until March. POSTED 11.30.21
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Digitally Speaking
14.2 %
Humboldt County’s COVID-19 test-positivity rate in November, during which the county confirmed 772 new cases of the virus, with 25 hospitalizations and seven deaths. POSTED 11.30.21
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They Said It “As an industry, we want this (battery-powered) equipment to be able to handle what we throw at it. But it’s not there yet.” — Sandra Giarde, executive director of the California Landscape Contractors Association, discussing fears California’s looming ban on the sale of most new gas power tools by 2024 will negatively impact the landscaping industry. POSTED 11.30.21
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As such, while waste management organizations see Wood’s bill as an improvement, HWMA, Recology and Humboldt Sanitation all said they aren’t planning to resume CRV services at this time. Read the full story at www.northcoastjournal.com. — Iridian Casarez POSTED 12.01.21
Clerk Shot During Robbery: An employee at Harris and K Market in Eureka was shot in the arm Nov. 29 during a reported armed robbery, according to the Eureka Police Department. Police are looking for the suspect — described as a man with a heavy build — after he entered the store with a handgun, demanded money from the register and the gun discharged when he reached to collect the cash. POSTED 11.30.21
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Comment of the Week “He was such an amazing man. I had the privilege of interviewing him when I was in high school about his extraordinary life. It was an honor to sit down and speak with him.” — Haley Katz commenting on the Journal’s website on an obituary for Samuel P. Oliner, who was orphaned as a child by the “barbarity of Nazi-occupation” in Poland, rescued by a Polish family and went on to found the Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute at Humboldt State University. Read more at www.northcoastjournal.com. POSTED 11.23.21 northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL
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