A ring of pseudo recyclers busted in California this week literally nickeled and dimed the state out of millions of dollars worth of bottle deposits.
Five individuals have so far been indicted for grand theft and fraud in a case that prosecutors say involved over a dozen recycling centers in SoCal and stretched into Arizona.
The illicit scheme turned on the fact that in California a refundable 5 or 10-cent deposit on recyclable beverage containers is charged consumers at the time of purchase, but not in the nearby state of Arizona.
So the bogus recycle ring cleverly collected and trucked hundreds of millions of free bottles and cans across state lines, and redeemed them all at California’s expense.
What distinguishes the bunch of shysters from legitimate entrepreneurs, however, is that California’s redemption agencies are not authorized to issue any refunds on out-of-state containers, for the obvious reason that no deposits were ever received from their sale.
The fraudulent enterprise netted the pseudo recyclers approximately 14-million-dollars in just two years … and five small prison cells while the ringleaders now await trial.
@EponymousRox
