California law enforcement is dealing with a new kind of smuggling at its borders and it’s not drugs, weapons, illegal immigrants – it’s recycling.
A trucker was arrested for alleged recycling fraud and attempted grand theft after he allegedly stole bags of recyclable empty containers from a recycling center in Arizona, and drove them to California, apparently with the intent to collect on the deposit payments that the State offers.
California’s charges customers an extra deposit on all recyclable containers which is returned when the container is recycled. Since every state’s laws are different, , the trucker was attempting to take containers from a recycling plant in Arizona, drive them into California and cash in on deposits that were never actually paid. If you’re thinking that this is definitely a crime that doesn’t pay, think again. A load of aluminum and plastic containers like the one the trucker was arrested with would have earned him more than $15,000 in “refunded” deposits.
The trucker was caught when he was stopped at a checkpoint and told the inspector that his trailer was empty. Unfortunately for him, the inspector opened the trailer to find it was full of the illegal recyclables.
This is not the first time this has happened either. A different trucker was arrested for the same crime in February whose load was worth $13,486 in deposits. Apparently it’s enough of an issue that California actually has a whole law enforcement team dedicated to it: the California Department of Justice Recycling Fraud Team.
Next Story: Trucker Sues ODOT After Accident Cause By Poor Highway Design
Source: overdrive
Brian says
Maybe it’s time to figure out a new way to recycle. The deposit system is a flawed one,even though recycling is good, it shows that if one truck load is worth as much as $15,000 then think what the big outfits are making. Waste is big business and the green agenda is money driven just like any other environmental cause.
Les_gvt says
The real fraud here is putting the words California and Justice in the same article
Tim says
Talk about raising the sweat factor at an inspection station!
royce says
Les_gov nailed it. Also,there isn’t a real drought in California. Certain agriculture concerns are tied into corrupt politicians. They have legally diverted a substantial amount of California’s water allotments to grow more export lettuce and such. As usual, the rich are stealing from the poor.
George Dorman says
Now we are complaining about US “exports”. Can’t we stop with the rich stealing from the poor thing. The only thing that the poor have to steal , is what the government stole from the taxpayers to give them. I am now basically poor due to imports, oil. My company was forced to close the doors when we lost 75% of our rigs do to Saudi Arabia.
J Ossowski says
I DEFY you to tell us exactly what “the rich” steal from “the poor”. You said it yourself, “The only thing that the poor have to steal , is what the government stole from the taxpayers to give them”. By that “reasoning”, whatever “the poor” have already belongs to “the rich”.
J Ossowski says
Stores in Michigan, near the Ohio line, have had this “problem” for years. Ohio has no deposit law and Michigan does so a bottle bought in Ohio can be returned to Michigan and the deposit collected. Most stores use automatic return machines and most of them aren’t capable of checking for a deposit.
Andrew says
They have been changing the barcodes on bottles in Michigan to help deter the automatic machine recycle fraud.