Replanet Recycling

The only bad thing about Replanet is the lines. No matter when you come there will be long lines. The longest I waited was 30 minutes.
The workers have always been courteous to me. It’s the other customers that have tried to fight me. Several times people have tried to cut me, but the worker always tells them to get in the back of the line. There is usually just 1 worker working, so it is going to take a long time to process everything.
People usually put their recycling on the side machine, but I always use the trash bins and let them weigh it. I don’t think there’s a significant difference.
I like that this location has the prices listed and you can check the weight.
I am now going to Green Planet Recycling because I don’t like to stand in a line for recycling, but I do think Replanet gives you more money. I don’t do heavy recycling and usually make about $ 12-​$ 15 from Replanet.
If it’s your first time recycling for cash, please reference these tips:
— It must say CA CRV on the glass, plastic bottle, or can.
— Most small recycling places do not take other recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, aluminum, etc. You’ll have to do research on finding places that do take these recyclables.
— Wine bottles are usually not redeemable for cash.
— Here is a whole list of what’s redeemable and not redeemable
— You must sort your recyclables, like must be with like, check the bottom of some plastic bottles because PET is different than HDPE
— In my personal experience, you get more from collecting aluminum than plastic

if you are an african american dont go here the man who works here on saturdays discrimanates he will take mexicans and others out of the line and will put them first

If I could leave no stars I would. The machines here are finicky. There is often a long line. But truly the worst part is trying to do something good for the environment and also get back a surcharge that you have paid in only to be met with incredible rudeness! I understand not liking your job and I have a lot of sympathy for the older gentleman who works here. As another reviewer said it does look like grueling back breaking work. I was very very polite and just trying to recycle my one bag and get out of there to move the line along and I was yelled at for no reason by this employee because my form was wrong, I read the sign, I watched others and given that I had no direction in exactly what form I should be using the yelling and rudeness was unnecessary. There is never a reason to treat another human being that way especially if they are being respectful and polite to you. If you want to be berated this is the place to go. I’ll find a recycling place that’s not such a negative experience. Granted I get it, you’re there to recycle there’s no niceties or 5 star service or course, but you should be able to go about your day without that blatant rudeness.

The man who works this location most of the time works so hard physically and in the terrible heat without much of a break or anywhere to relax I can only think «what a terrible job.»
It’s that busy and so you would think successful but at times he really needs some help. The machines break down a lot, but there are a lot of people who damn well could use the blue bins that get weighed but have some sort of work ethic that requires them to feed every bottle themselves rather than use those bins. Those people hold up the line for the people who have a few items. (If you’re concerned that you’re going to get a lot less money I can tell you that’s pretty much not true. Only the very thin plastic water bottles weigh a whole lot less.)
Located in the parking lot of Ralphs, Ralphs has nothing to do with Re-​Cycle so if you have a complaint you have to call the office, at the number posted. Ralphs officially knows nothing.
RePlanet is simply not ADA compliant. In particular I’m posting this because the other day was the SECOND time I was told I may not have my bottles and cans in a shopping cart and be in line. Yes, the first time I called the office and got a very rude woman who near hung up on me. I was angery but I wasn’t using bad language or abusing her. The idea that they want feedback is whoooeee.
I have very little room to keep cans and bottles in my home so I want to go about once a week. This means maybe $ 2. cash.
If I fatigue from carrying what I have and I see a cart on my walk over I feel like yelling «There is a God!» The first time I brought a cart onto the parking lot it had been on my street and wasn’t a Ralph’s cart. I was in line an HOUR and a security guard from Replanet showed up, told me I was not allowed to have a cart, and physically removed the cart from me putting it with the Ralph’s carts.
The other day I showed up with a cart, also not a Ralph’s cart, and stood in line. A machine was down. A lady with huge bags was insisting she feed each one at a time instead of using the blue bins. There were half a dozen people waiting there — people so dedicated to recycling that they are putting that time into it.
About a half an hour into my wait, and at this point I felt weak, the man pointed at the sign and told me no shopping carts. Actually he told me twice and I refused to comply.
OK I THINK THIS «NO SHOPPING CARTS» THING IS ABOUT TRYING TO MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE TO RECYCLE. But anyone who is going to complain about homeless recycling is simply not dealing in reality. I expect homeless to be recycling wherever I go because this is how they buy food and a night in a motel, by going through other people’s trash cans. Any recycling center that is so foo foo that they don’t want homeless to bring their bottles and cans is not dealing in reality either. Further, there are plenty of people who are not driving or cutting back on driving who walk to the store.
In a city where they say 4 out of 5 people are living from one paycheck to the next and the leading cause of homelessness is job loss, you must be without a HEART if you expect to recycle without any homeless people around.
I REFUSED TO GIVE UP MY CART until the blue bins were in front of me and it was my turn. Before leaving I pled my case. I told the guy that i knew he was a good person and hard working and I’m not a bitch but I’m calling ADA. The company was already warned once by me on the phone. They just don’t get it.
WE DON’T LIVE UP TO UNREASONABLE SIGNS. WE ARE TO ACCOMODATE WHAT IS REASONABLE and REASONABLE is certainly being able to lean on a shopping cart in a parking lot of a Ralphs that is full of shopping carts, during a long wait or avoid repetitive or heavy lifting.
Several of the people in line that day were frail looking seniors. They understood where I was coming from.

This place is so poorly managed. There’s two separate signs posted showing different hours of operation and they’re often closed when either sign says they should be open. A new problem I’ve faced is showing up during hours when they’re open and both machines say they have to be restarted and there are no employees in sight.

Geez. I have never felt as negatively about a place as I do about this recycling center.
I’ll start off apologizing to 1 of the employees (a young lady) who was very helpful throughout the whole time I was there. This review is not based on you, but on their other 2 employees were the worst I have ever experienced.
All I was trying to do was recycle, but instead I got criticized on the way I was feeding the cans and bottles into the center. I was yelled at because I wasn’t moving fast enough. Got scolded because when I finished emptying out a bag I didn’t throw it away immediately. Had the older guy working there yank a box out of my hand and ask what was wrong with me because I hadn’t broken it down the way he wanted me to. Well, excuse me sir, I was still in the middle of recycling.
I’m never coming back to this place again.

I’ll be up front in saying that I feel it kinda pointless/​an easy target to review and criticize a recycling center, because really, what does one go in expecting? It’s not like a restaurant/​bar where you’re exchanging your money for an experience; you’re taking them your TRASH, pure and simple. All the same, I didn’t expect such a relatively simple process to end up being such a goddamned pain in the ass.
I suppose part of the issue just is that I’d never really used a RePlanet before; frankly, the only reason I went on this day was that the A & J Recycling Center up the street had closed early –and which usually is my go-​to in terms of convenience – and I was determined to get rid of all the bottles & cans that’d been piling up at my place.
Immediately after arriving, one of my trash bags full of glass fell to the pavement as I was unloading it from my trunk, causing a bottle inside to shatter– no problem, I figure; I’ll just dump the contents in one of their big plastic containers, they’ll weigh it, all good. Well, no such luck: on Sundays, this place is considered closed, and won’t do that; even though there’s a worker there weighing things, you only have their automated conveyer belts/​scales to load feed your recyclables into.
And here’s where the fun REALLY begins.
At this point, you have to take EVERY can and bottle you’ve brought, and one-​by-​one HAND-​FEED them into the conveyer belt, covered in whatever leftover sticky soda or rancid beer that’s still in ‘em… it’s a time-​consuming and frustrating chore having to do it, and having to wait in line behind others doing it.
If you’d crushed ANY of your aluminum/​plastic, the machine will roll it back out.
If they’re an unusual size– a wine bottle, even– the machine will roll them back out as well… nearly half of the recyclables I brought I ended up NOT being able to turn in, so you’ll either end up taking them back home, or leaving them there in the trash can (I’ve been here in the past and there are usually countless street people that’ll be digging through this trash for stuff to recycle elsewhere, or arguing with the clerks).
Oh, remember that broken bottle I’d mentioned? SLICE! A nice big, bloody cut awaited me as I reached into one of the wine/​beer covered plastic bags to take my glass out (which is even nicer considering that I WOULDN’T have been able to recycle it even if I HADN’T broken it/​cut my damned finger open…).
Afterwards, be prepared to take your soda/​booze/​blood-​covered receipt that the cantankerous machine spat out into the nearby Ralph’s, where you’ll have to wait in another line to cash it in (not to mention probably have to use their restroom to wash off the grime that gathered on your fingers, hopefully they aren’t out of towels that day, as they were this time…).
No thanks, RePlanet; A & J, you owe me an apology. And a goddamned Band-​Aid.

I went to the one at Smart and Final’s last week and got there 15 minutes before the posted closing time. The woman snapped «I’m closed». When I pointed out the time, she said she had a bunch of things to do before she left.
Fine. Then post a different closing time.
Is it just her? Well, I emailed the company and got no response at all.
This company needs to be replaced by one that cares.

What’s worse is if you call RePlanet to complain they’ll hang up on you.
And there’s the nice selection of homeless people. And bees at this location.
At least if people are loitering the cops come by from time to time.

I had the same bad experience with replanet at the supermarket locations. They are never open or if yes they ripp you off.
I started a blog about my recycling experiences in California.
Please join me in exchanging experiences.
On this site you will find useful info on several locations.

Being an eco-​conscious individual, I do what I can to live a green lifestyle. But this place does not make it easy. About a month ago, I needed to recycle cans, wine bottles, and other vacant liquid vessels. Yet I kept running into issues. Here’s what happened:
Monday: «Oh, I’m sorry, we’re not taking anymore cans today.»
Tuesday: «We had to reboot our processing system, can you come back?»
Thursday: «Oh, I’m sorry, we’re not taking anymore cans today.»
Following Monday: «I’m sorry, the electricity to our building has been cut. We can’t take any more recyclables.»
Following Thursday: Success! I finally was able to redeem the cans and drop off the other items.
Today I went back again, to drop off more wine bottles (of which one cannot get any refund back). I should have been able to drop off said recyclables and go — YET THEY WERE NOT OPEN. Even though it was 2:50 in the afternoon and their posted hours state they close at 4:00. Seriously? I am highly displeased, and am now in search of other rePlanet locations.