Santa Monica Recycling Center

A normal person who doesn’t venture out of the bubble might be a tad scared coming here since there are all sorts of people wandering about looking for cans, bottles, etc.
Be prepared to get grimy and a lil sticky dirty from steering garbage cans. The deal: park your car (might wait 5-​minutes), sort through your goods separating into aluminum, plastic, and glass, then get in line with your garbage bins, so yucky (the garbage bins)! Even if there’s about 10-​people in line, the guys move very quickly.
I think that there ARE different prices per pound for recyclables but I haven’t been enough so I can’t really compare. Best tip: Separate before coming here, most helpful! Then you can actually wash your hands or clothing if the leftover liquid spills on you while separating your goods!

Super helpful and friendly staff. They cheerfully (I’m serious!) direct you to where to drop each item off (there are containers for everything you could ever imagine to recycle), and will even help you unload if you are just dropping off and not selling.
This is my go-​to place for getting rid of all of my e-​waste.

With the open air setting and expansive lot, I figured that I had a good chance of being upwind from any heavy metals being released on the property. Was thinking that next time I could suit up haz-​mat style, and try and blend in with the employees. Actually, its not that dingy or toxic (at least compared to Downtown L.A.‘s Alameda street offering, or worse yet, the Vernon Recycling Plant). And as to the competitiveness of the price per pound — I really do not have the inclination nor the opportunity to shop around. So for now, this place will do,

It was all you could expect from a recycling center. People were nice, they moved me along pretty quickly. I had a few months worth of cans and glass bottles and got about $ 7. Woohoo!

First time recycler. I made a mistake but guys working there were very nice and just sorted a bit. And didn’t tell at me for it.
Lesson 1. Separate all glass, plastic, aluminum.
Lesson 2. U really don’t get that much money :). $ 2.51 for month worth :).

Parking is sparse here so when we thought we found a spot to go a worker made is move over two feet which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The payout is ok but still it’s better than any of the re-​planets.

You can ecycle here and recycle batteries. This place is the real deal, a big facility where they actually begin the recycling process. There are little kids here on a field trip.
If you just want to drop your recyclables there are sorted industrial bins outside for tin, different plastics, magazines, white paper, phone books, cans and trash. Or if you prefer to collect cash for your recyclables, you can come inside the gate and recycle your plastic bottles, cans, and glass bottles by the pound. The staff are friendly. There are bins inside to recycle your batteries as well.
For those who want the exact 5 cents or 10 cents for your bottles and cans, the by the pound thing is what it is. So for that reason if this place had the self serve machine that vends 5 cents or 10 cents for your glass or bottle I’d give them 5 stars. Otherwise this is a great place.

It’s ok if you have a ton of stuff. Prices seemed to decreased quite a bit. For example you can have 6 bins of cans, 4 bins of paper, 7 bins of cardboard, 3 bins of glass, and a big wheel bin of plastic and a year ago it could easily been $ 140 probably more and now it’s about $ 50 dollars. Now they are getting stricter on what they take. Often there are homeless their and few try to start arguing over 1 or 2 cents or they counted more or over nothing. Also if you are a young, attractive, and hot girl they give way more attention then other people there (everyone else becomes obsolete). 2 major things they need to do is to get new carts and bins and also when someone takes 2 spaces or is over the line tell them to park properly or you have to leave.

The rest of the reviews pretty much still hold true. This place is pretty industrial. (I.e. big and not exactly super clean.) There are parking spots and big rolling carts that you put your recyclables into and then just roll onto the scales.
I’m not exactly sure how the money compares to other operations. I just know that when I have a TON of stuff to recycle, I can do it quickly here and get paid cash.

I love this recycling place. When I moved into my new place, I had a bunch of cardboard boxes and I took them here for cash. I also had a bunch of old work catalogues that I needed to get rid of… got some cash for that too. They also take mix paper, magazines, newspaper, plastic 1 and plastic 2. I don’t take my cans or bottles here as I would rather get CRV rates for it instead of scale pricing – you get more money that way.
Everyone that works here are really helpful and fast. I never wait in line for very long. I highly recommend coming here with your recycling.

This place is good! Even though it’s a bit far from where I live but they do take the wine bottles that I have had for a month of so already. I don’t know if they take all the glass containers or not, but I’d be happy to try that out next time

Went here for the first time today (first time recycling too: p)
I only got $ 4.38 for all the papers, magazine, and some wine bottles and plastic bottles. Well that’s one of experience. This place is pretty good and not that dirty.
The workers are helpful :) keep it up guys hehe.
Go Green! :)

This is a solid place to take your cans and bottles. One line for aluminum, one line for plastic bottle. Dump them in the bin, weigh them out, get ticket for cash at the cashiers window. I recently counted all the bottles because I didn’t think I would get full value for weight of different sized bottles, but the guy said he would give us weight or count which ever was more, nice! Although it’s a dump it’s a well organized and efficient one.

Location is pretty convenient since its right off the Cloverfield exit off the 10. A little grimy and stank, but its a recycling facility. It is what it is.
Recycling is more of a hobby for me then anything. If you are doing this as a means of income production, forget about it. I just hate seeing my CRV getting sifted away by people molesting my blue bin as soon as it hits the curve.
The really nice thing about this place is that they courtesy recycle your used batteries, motor oil, e-​waste and other toxic waste materials free of charge.
So you’re basically killing multiple birds with one stone if you plan accordingly.
In sum, I recommend it.

I’m one of the weirdos who comes here on Sunday when no one’s around and just chucks stuff in the bins. I don’t have many aluminum cans at all, so the extra effort involved in garnering $ 5 – 10 during the week doesn’t appeal much to me. Then again, I’m already sorting my items and driving from Mar Vista to drop them off, so effort is probably a moot point ha. Nonetheless, thanks Santa Monica, since an 18 unit building can’t convince one building manager to get a FREE recycle bin, you’re a big help to me!

Parking is easy and there are a lot of bins available for you to load up all your saved recyclables. The guys working are efficient and friendly. It’s really really freakin’ dirty though. I felt dirty just stepping out of my car but what can you expect from a recycle center?
After saving up cans and water bottles and hella beer and wine bottles I filled my car to the brim and drove over. I love that is is so conveniently located right next to the freeway offramp.
Recycling for cash is SO not really worth the effort though and I doubt I’ll be stockpiling my glass and aluminum again anytime soon.
73 POUNDS of mixed glass = approx $ 6. what. the. heck??? The measly little bag of aluminum cans I brought gave me about the same amount of money and the plastic water bottles are practically worthless. I left so rich with $ 13.10. Recycling money making scheme FAIL.

Easy open-​and-​shut case. I had some plastic bottles I wanted to recycle and it was easy as 1−2−3.
1. Round up your bottles.
2. Place in supplied bins.
3. Get it weighed and take your receipt to the cashier across from the weighing stations.
And ta-​da! Recycling Magic!
Note: A hippie in the cashiers line told me to count the bottles next time for more dough. If they weigh it they take a certain deduction from your reusables. Apparently, if you count it and give an exact number to the weighing personnel they give you about 2.5 times more than just weight.
Also, bring hand sanitizer and/​or gloves/​clothes. The task can get a lil dirty…

YEAH!
Fast, friendly and efficient.
Always had good luck with this Allan Company location. They get you ‘in and out’ in very little time. Surprisingly, I’ve never experienced a wait nor long lines. I usually get about $ 8 — 12 per trip here and it usually takes me about 12 — 14 minutes ‘out the door’.
By the way, I absolutely hate the Re-​Planet centers (often by Ralph’s locations). They are slow (long lines, long waits — and as they’re in Ralph’s centers, the parking can be bad) and often their glass bin is full.

Open on Saturdays, come here with your glass, plastic and aluminum bottles with CRVs to cash ‘em in! Other recyclables can also be dropped off here. (note: Milk containers don’t have a CRV, but can be recycled)

This place is great for those who want to just unload a bunch of basic recyclabes at any time of day, as they have a bunch of bins right outside. If you want to actually make some money back from your recyclables, you’ll have to obey their hours… And, yes, it’s better to come during the week than on the weekends, for the lines can be long on the weekends – particularly around closing time when everyone suddenly shows up,
When recycling for money, the guys are quick, friendly and helpful. They even have bins and shopping carts for you to borrow and lug your stuff over to them. The main drawback is that they have limits on the numbers of items you can bring in and ask for a per-​item refund – as opposed to getting paid by weight. There are also differences depending upon if you give them mixed or separated (segregated) items.
Still, I miss NY where you bring your aluminum and plastic straight back to the grocery store to an automated machine that spits out a 5 cents x # of cans or bottles ticket for you to redeem for groceries or cash! Even more proactive is my college town of Ithaca, NY; they CHARGE you per bag of trash but take recycling for free to encourage you to recycle more! Let’s do all that, CA! Meanwhile, this place is one of the best places to go for efficient recycling.