10 BEST Recycling Center In Los Angeles with Excellent Rates

Los Angeles has a population of approximately 3.849 million people. With these numbers, it’s no wonder that waste has become a significant issue, just like in any other metropolitan city. This is exacerbated by the increase in waste in the COVID19 era, such as single-use food containers, food packaging, disposable masks, and various other types of garbage. Apart from household waste, electronic waste and metals are also concerning issues because many are hazardous materials. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a recycling center in Los Angeles to reduce the trash in landfills.

Fortunately, Los Angeles has a waste recycling program that aims to reduce garbage dumped in landfills. This is also supported by the many recycling centers in Los Angeles that receive and buy various recyclable materials, such as e-waste, plastics, metals, aluminum, and more. Some of them also process green waste from gardening and farming.

Interested in finding the nearest recycling center in Los Angeles to dump your recyclable junk? Find one below!

Los Angeles Recycling Center

Every recycling center accepts different items to collect, divert, and pay for. Hence, knowing which one matches your needs is crucial. If you are an LA resident and want to comply with the recycling program approach but still wonder what recycling center in Los Angeles that can accommodate your nearby junk, you should look at the list below. They will help you handle the waste with the best services and payments.

1. SA Recycling

Metals are one of the tricky materials to recycle. Luckily, SA recycling has operated since 1973 to provide metal recycling for ferrous and non ferrous metals. The industry is now expanding its service in more than 15 states in the U.S., including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Furthermore, it opens 125 recycling points that will divert your scrap metal from appliances, cars, electric wires, and household recyclable materials. SA recycling also emphasizes its responsibility to remove tons of metal waste from the landfill to protect our environment.

Services

As a one of the leading recycling center in Los Angeles, SA recycling offers diversion services of various scrap metals, including:

Manufacturing scrap services
Appliance and automobile recycling
Certified destruction
Demolition scrap and service
Green waste
SA Alloys

Regarding the materials, they accept all kinds of metals and CRV items, such as aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles, small and large appliances, cars, and more. Not only are they collecting and accepting household and business wastes, but SA recycling will also pay with competitive prices. They also offer top-notch customer service, so you can land the work on them with trust.

If you own a company, you can book a bin to handle hazardous metal waste from your business. Just go to the website and request an appointment, then they will give you a size recommendation based on what you need.

Address

2104 E 15th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021, United States.

Website

www.sarecycling.com

Phone

+1 213-747-4281

Hours

The SA Recycling open days:

Sunday Closed
Monday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Tuesday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Wednesday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Thursday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Friday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Saturday 07:00AM – 12:00PM

Rating by Google

4.6 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the SA Recycling service:

“Always a pleasure to see the young ladies with great attitude and the guys in the yard very helpful and time to turn in at the end excellent customer service all around.” – Maggie Pablo
“Very helpful staff, very sweet and very knowledgeable. I highly recommend them!” – Nicole Diaz
“Great customer service, employees with great attitude, fast service, very friendly cashiers, great experience all around.” – Pepe Duarte Jurado

Our Reviews

Despite SA recycling being declared a metal recycling center, it is fascinating that they also have a green waste service. They also accept ferrous and non-ferrous metals, so you don’t have to worry about where to dump your metal waste. As for the opening hours, you have some convenient options to drop your junk.

You can also request to have a bin for metal junk. But we bet it’s only for business and industry, where they’ll drop and pick it up once filled. Nonetheless, you can book a pick-up service if you have large quantities of metals. Unfortunately, they don’t define the minimum weight of the waste to use this service.

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you have pickup service?”
Answer – “For large quantities of scrap metals, SA can arrange pickup for many locations.”

Question – “What does SA recycling buy?”
Answer – “We accept ferrous and non-ferrous metals, including aluminum, copper, brass, consumer goods, and industrial items.”

2. Star Recycling

Despite being quite popular, Star Recycling doesn’t have a website to look for. That’s unfortunate as you may only call to know what kind of services they offer. We are also kind of struggling to find out its upbringing and how this Star Recycling performs compared to its competitor.

Nonetheless, people love this recycling center because it has fast and friendly crews that will take your trash within minutes. They also pay a reasonable price, so people are happy! The place is well-organized, only the small parking area becomes a common issue.

Services

Since there’s no website available to dive deeper into the services, we can only look for customer reviews on Google (a brief disclaimer!). As we know to date, Star Recycling accepts aluminum cans, plastics, and glasses. Mind you, they don’t take papers.

Moreover, the reviews highlighted only the drop-off service. We have included the address below for you to check and go. But remember, the parking lot is limited. So, we highly recommend you come in the morning or late afternoon to avoid crowded hours.

Address

2623 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006, United States.

Website

Not available

Phone

+1 213-380-7635

Hours

The Star Recycling open days:

Sunday 08:00AM – 02:00PM
Monday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Tuesday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Wednesday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Thursday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Friday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Saturday 08:00AM – 04:30PM

Rating by Google

4.6 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the Star Recycling service:

“Excellent service every single time!!!” – Kaleab Gorfu
“I’ve been going to this place for a long time. The two guys there are very helpful and funny. The return on the recycle is fair. The system they have in place is very organized and easy to follow. Highly recommended!” – FMLN213
“I want to give this nice place 5 stars because they give us the real price of the recyclables.” – Marisela Solorzano

Our Reviews

The first thing we notice is there needs to be a website available to check on the services. For the old customers, that’s no issue. But potential customers need help finding the best services that suit their needs. Luckily, there’s a phone number to seek more information about the Star Recycling center. The plus of this recycling point is fast, friendly, and efficient service, thus saving time for customers.

Besides that, they have a fair payment. That’s one of the keys to why they have pretty high Google rates from their customers. However, some complain about the narrow parking lot. Hence, you better take it into account and don’t go around busy hours (usually at 02:00 PM).

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you recycle cardboard?”
Answer – “I see no cardboard there.”

3. Green LA Recycling

Another recycling center with no website and little information across Google. But luckily, we managed to find a glimpse of the information related to this recycling service.

Green LA Recycling is a recycling center that only handles CRV materials. They have two locations where you can send your junk (we’ve listed them below!). Furthermore, they open everyday, making it easy for you to adjust the drop off schedule.

Services

Star Recycling center only accepts CRV materials, including aluminum, plastics, glasses and bi-metal beverage containers. Based on the Google reviews, they only offer drop off service, where you need to drive to one of the two addresses to dump your recyclable trash.

You must also sort the garbage before sending them into this facility. Moreover, customers find it awesome since the recycling points open everyday from 07:00 AM to 06:30 PM. But it will be best to go outside their busy hours (usually between 12:00 AM to 03:00 PM).

Address

1738 E 14th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021, United States.

1862 E 55th St, Los Angeles, CA 90058, United States.

Phone

+1 818-726-9331

Hours

The Green LA Recycling open days:

Sunday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Monday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Tuesday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Wednesday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Thursday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Friday 7:00AM – 6:30PM
Saturday 7:00AM – 6:30PM

Rating by Google

4.6 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the Green LA Recycling service:

“OPEN FROM 7AM TO 6:30 PM EVERY DAY!!! NOW THAT’S SERVICE!!!!” – Jason Misfit
“A very clean place and they open on Sundays… Yay!” – Josseline Blanco
“Great place for recycling and good payoff.” – Eric Freeman

Our Reviews

Knowing this facility gets a 4.6/5.0 star on Google, it’s a bit sad that they don’t have a website to find out the services they offer. The only thing you can do is call their number prior to driving off to the recycling center. But, of course, there’s always a plus behind the drawback.

Star Recycling provides two facilities you can choose which is closest to your home. Apart from that, some reviews mentioned the place has expansive parking lots, friendly crews, and good buying prices for their recyclable CRV scraps.

Question and Answer

Question – “What do they accept?”
Answer – “CRV materials only.”

4. AmMex Recycling Co.

This recycling center may be one the leading recycling businesses in LA. It was founded in 1955 with a vast area covering around 30,000 square meters. There’s no clue who built the business, but now Ted Kang is the owner of AmMex Recycling Co.

AmMex Recycling Co is basically a recycling service that will happily get rid of your recyclable metals, cans, glass, bimetal, and plastic. They will collect, sort, and recycle and also pay you with an excellent price! If you want to know more about them, visit the website or call to know more services they offer.

Services

As we mentioned, the AmMex recycling center offers to recycle metals, cans, glass, bimetal, and plastic. Unfortunately, the website doesn’t provide information related to the detailed services, whether or not they provide pick up service or only the drop off one. But from the reviews, they only offer drop-off services. So, you need to go there to send your recyclable items.

Before proceeding to payment, they will weigh the waste before paying and give you a receipt. Then, you will be directed to the cashier and get your money. The parking area is quite vast! But one review mentioned you must show your driver’s license if you exceed the waste limit.

Address

3315 E Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90023, United States.

Website

www.ammexrecycling.com

Phone

+1 323-268-9933

Hours

The AmMex Recycling Co. open days:

Sunday Closed
Monday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Tuesday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Wednesday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Thursday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Friday 07:00AM – 04:00PM
Saturday 07:00AM – 04:00PM

Rating by Google

4.5 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the AmMex Recycling Co. service:

“Well organized center. Good value.” – John Miller
“Very organized facility. They have weight scales visible for the customer to see so that’s a big plus in my eyes because the customer is able to see how much their bottles and cans weigh.” – Johana
“People are very helpful.” – Jose Ordaz

Our Reviews

AmMex Recycling Co takes a wide variety of CRV waste, including metal, glass, and plastic, to recycle. Thus, you can sort them into bags or containers and bring them to the facility. Besides, customers are pleased as they give you good payment for their junk. You can check the website to know the estimated money you may receive.

In addition, the staff is fast and friendly, helping customers with the best services. The recycling point is also clean and well-organized. But the only issue here is that the website doesn’t provide a clear description of their services (pick-up/drop-off).

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you accept metals?”
Answer – “They take metal, glass, and plastic to recycle.”

5. Recycle Now Inc.

Not much information we can gain about Recycle Now Inc as they don’t have a website or Facebook page. Google, though, can’t provide information about it. Based on a third-party website, this business is owned by Sarkis B. But we are not pretty sure about it.

All we know is that this recycling center will divert your CRV materials, like cans, plastics, and glass bottles. However, you have to sort it out before sending them off to this facility, though they will help you at that point. But that will take a lot of time to do.

Services

Similar to other recycling centers in Los Angeles so far, Recycle Now Inc. only provides a drop-off service. They take your CRV materials, like plastic and glass bottles and cans. There is no information about pick-up or drive-thru services since the website is unavailable.

They will mostly be packed at busy hours (usually noon), so coming in the early morning will be the best choice. And most importantly, they give you a fair payment.

Address

3561 W Slauson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90043, United States.

Phone

+1 818-331-2128

Hours

The Recycle Now Inc. open days:

Sunday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 01:00PM – 05:00PM
Monday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 01:00PM – 05:00PM
Tuesday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 01:00PM – 05:00PM
Wednesday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 1:00PM – 05:00PM
Thursday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 1:00PM – 05:00PM
Friday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 1:00PM – 05:00PM
Saturday 8:00AM – 12:00PM, 1:00PM – 05:00PM

Rating by Google

4.5 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the Recycle Now Inc service:

“Excellent service. My 10yr old loves collecting money from her bottles and they teach her Spanish.” – Chantel Heath
“Excellent service.” – Maria Flores
“I want to make a brief comment. I want to say customer service has become the best. I did go once and the guy who was there before was very rude, but I recently went and there was a new guy that helped me very well. He explained the price for every van very well!” – Juliza Vivanco

Our Reviews

That’s unfortunate if a recycling center doesn’t have a website to look up its services. So, you can only rely on Google reviews and information on the third-party website, which is not entirely helpful, though.

Anyway, Recycle Now Inc. accepts various recyclable items, that’s a plus. Besides, the price is reasonable. However, some reviews highlighted that the customer service is a bit off. The parking area is small, so the facility will be instantly crowded during peak hours. And, of course, you will have a long line.

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you take cardboard?”
Answer – “We only take CRV materials.”

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6. South Coast Recycling

Wondering why the website doesn’t mention South Coast Recycling? That’s because it is a subsidiary of American Reclamation. The parent company has served the LA community for more than 50 years, handled by the third generation of the Gasparian family.

Their service covers a large area of Los Angeles, including Malibu, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Anaheim, San Bernardino, Lancaster, Santa Clarita, Thousand Oaks, and many more. You can check the detailed areas on their website we’ve listed below.

Services

We now know why South Coast Recycling becomes one of the LA residents favorite to dump their recyclable materials. They take various kinds of trash! It includes:

Glass
Plastic bags
Cardboard or paper
Plastics
CRV bottles
Scrap metals (ferrous and non-ferrous)
Aluminum cans
Green waste or compost

That’s amazing! They also have a recycling pickup service you can rely on when you have no time to drive to the recycling point. Nonetheless, for the metals, cans, cardboard, and waste paper, you must send them to the parent company (American Reclamation) whose address we’ve put on above.

If you need a business service to handle your large scale waste, you can call the American Reclamation and book one of these services:

Front Loader Services (a pick-up, scheduled removal for residential and commercial waste).
Roll-Off Dumpster Rental (rent a big curb to handle junk from renovation, garage cleaning, or moving out).
Product Destruction (services for mostly industries to destroy expired products, for example).
Tire Recycling (to get rid of your unused tires in your garage).
Dirt Disposal (cleaning up dirt from yard, project, landscaping, and more).

Address

5487 W San Fernando Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90039, United States.

4560 Doran St, Los Angeles, CA 90039, United States (American Reclamation).

Website

www.americanreclamation.com

Phone

+1 818-552-4078 (South Coast Recycling)

+1 888-999-9330 (American Reclamation)

Hours

The South Coast Recycling open days:

Sunday Closed
Monday 07:30 AM – 05:00 PM
Tuesday 7:30AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday 7:30AM – 5:00 PM
Thursday 7:30AM – 5:00 PM
Friday 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM

Rating by Google

4.4 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the South Coast Recycling service:

“The employees are always respectful and informative.” – Joel Eide
“They will pay competitive prices to recycle. They buy many different recycled products. Call to find out what they buy.” – Conejo Tomas
“Quick and accurate weighing and friendly people.” – Sang Lee

Our Reviews

There are several advantages if you schedule a recycling service with this company. One of which is that they accept lots of materials, including green waste. So, you can send your junk with no hustle. Just remember to sort it up before dumping them.

In addition, they provide a pickup service that is rarely available in many other recycling centers in Los Angeles. Their services are also complete; you can book them for your household disposal or business. Unfortunately, the parking area is small. So, it would be better to go there outside their busy hours.

Question and Answer

Question – “Do they pay for glass or bottle?”
Answer – “Yes.”

7. Venus Recycling

This recycling center founded by Rossea Rodgiuece in 1992 or has been in business for over 31 years. They have around 3 employees so far, but you can discover if there’s change when you visit the facility. Based on the reviews on Google, we can see that they are pretty excellent in serving their customers.

Unfortunately, even though they have a website, it barely gives us information about their service and what kind of recycling center they are. But at least, they give you a phone number to get to know more about them.

Services

They have a lack of information on the website about the services. But they will buy your CRV materials, including aluminum cans, glass, plastic bottles (e.g., PET #1, HDPE #2, PS #6), and glass bottles.

From the reviews, there’s no pickup service, only the drop-off one. Interestingly, the crews know both Spanish and English, so you will have no problem with the language barrier. Moreover, the staff is nice and helpful, giving you good money by selling your recyclable trash here.

Address

2517 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057, United States.

Website

venus-recycling.business.site

Phone

+1 213-365-2681

Hours

The Venus Recycling open days:

Sunday 08:00AM – 02:00PM
Monday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Tuesday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Wednesday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Thursday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Friday 08:00AM – 04:30PM
Saturday 08:00AM – 04:30PM

Rating by Google

4.3 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the Venus Recycling service:

“Have redeemed my recyclables here for years. When there aren’t many customers it’s a fast process, but can develop a line, the longest I’ve had to wait 15-20 min max.” – Demetrius B.
“Every time I go to this recycling place, they give me the right amount of money. I would leave happy. Basically I leave and don’t feel like I was cheated. Lol thank you.” – Michael Stuart
“A fast service, with parking.” – Felipe M.

Our Reviews

Again, the website is a bit useless since you can’t find the services offered by this company. But at least, it lets you know what kind of recyclable junk they accept. The service hours are also excellent as it gives you more options to drive to the facility.

We can also see that the customer service is fantastic and the queue is not too long (still, avoid busy hours). In addition, we noticed in one review saying that the place is a bit filthy. Perhaps, you can put your mask on to solve this issue.

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you take cardboard?”
Answer – “Hi, unfortunately we don’t take cardboard at the moment. Thanks for the inquiry, have a great day.”

Question – “Does this recycling take tabs?”
Answer – “Hello, if you mean the Aluminum can tabs, we don’t take those separately. We buy the aluminum cans with the tabs attached to them.”

8. Los Angeles-Glendale SAFE Recycling Center

You can tell by the name that this recycling center is handled by LA Sanitation and Environment (LASAN). The organization has been working for decades, starting back in 1947 when the Bureau of Sanitation launched. They have three primary programs that become their core values, Watershed Protection, Solid Resources, and Clean Water.

In 2020, as the history section updated, LASAN had 25 divisions and 3000 employees focusing on public health and the environment. Now, LASAN works to protect the environment in Los Angeles by providing bins throughout the city and businesses and a recycling center that the residents can rely on to dump a wide range of waste.

Services

Since it is handled by the government service, you can dump basically all the trash that is not acceptable in any other recycling centers in Los Angeles. Here is the list of items SAFE Recycling Center takes:

Hazardous waste (paint, solvent, household batteries, bulbs, light ballasts, cleaning products, used motor oil and filters, antifreeze, car batteries, etc.).
Electronic waste (computers, monitors, printers, equipment, cables, telephones, microwaves, cell phones, radios, stereos, VCRs, and more)
Sharps (needles, pen needles, lancets).
Tanks/Cylinders (propane, butane, MAPP gas, helium, fire extinguishers).

But, it must be taken into account that they accept e-waste only on Saturdays. Moreover, according to the laws, hazardous wastes cannot exceed 15 gallons or 125 pounds. As for the tanks and cylinders, you can grab one cylinder per visit, and it’s only for home use. Meanwhile, the light bulbs are acceptable only if they are not attached, while asbestos and contaminated wood must be less than 3 ft in length. For batteries, you must tape the terminals with clear packing, electrical, or duct tape.

Even though they take most of your junk, there are some items that are not acceptable at Los Angeles-Glendale SAFE Recycling Center, including:

Marine flares
Smoke detectors
Mercury, metallic
Metal light fixtures
Business and commercial wastes
Ammunition, firecrackers, and explosives
Acetylene and oxygen tanks/cylinders
Radioactive materials
Medical and biological wastes
Tires and bulky items (furniture and large appliances)

Address

Los Angeles-Glendale SAFE Center

4600 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039, United States (Central Los Angeles).

UCLA SAFE Center

550 Charles E. Young Drive West, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States (West Los Angeles).

Washington Blvd. SAFE Center

2649 E. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90021 (East Los Angeles).

Website

www.lacitysan.org

Phone

+1 800-773-2489

Hours

The Los Angeles-Glandale SAFE Recycling Center open days:

Sunday 09:00AM – 03:00PM
Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday Closed
Friday Closed
Saturday 09:00AM – 03:00PM

Rating by Google

4.2 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the Los Angeles-Glandale SAFE Recycling Center service:

“Efficient! Very quick unloading of e-waste, paint, etc. Very happy to have this site and the staff there.” – Sharon Weldy
“Wow. Very efficient. You stay in your car. They automatically take everything. Super quick and easy.” – Jason Oakley
“Little bit of a wait but not too much. Fast and efficient.” – Stephen Welch

Our Reviews

Considering the SAFE Center is linked to the LASAN, no wonder it has complete and fantastic services for the LA community. They accept almost all waste you can imagine, which is a great solution to reduce the trash in the landfill. However, the opening hours are somewhat limited compared to the previous recycling center in Los Angeles. You can only go there on the weekend. But we think that’s not an issue since you’ll generally have work offs.

Question and Answer

Question – “Is there a cost for paint cans and batteries?”
Answer – “No. Just bring them in. We are open from 9AM to 3PM on Saturday and Sunday.”

Question – “Do you take fire extinguishers?”
Answer – “They will take $1 per trip and only household type.”

9. Vasquez Recycling Center

We’re a bit confused as the website that appeared on Google directed us to the government site. So, we conclude that this recycling center actually has no official website.

But from the web mentioned, we know that the Vasquez Recycling Center belongs to Santa Monica, LA, one of the community’s mainstay redemption centers for cashing in their CRV junk. It is located around Robert’s Market, which is accessible to most.

Services

Vasquez Recycling Center accepts CRV materials, like aluminum cans, plastic, and glass bottles. Some customers mentioned they could bring milk containers, but we’re unsure of that since there’s no website to confirm this.

Like other Los Angeles recycling centers, you must separate them into different bags before sending and weighing the recyclable trash to save time. Based on the reviews, this recycling service doesn’t offer pickup, but only drop off.

Address

5744 W Manchester Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045, United States.

Phone

+1 310-754-0648

Hours

The Vasquez Recycling Center open days:

Sunday 08:00 AM – 02:00 PM
Monday 08:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Tuesday 08:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Wednesday 08:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Thursday 08:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Friday 08:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Saturday 08:00AM – 02:00 PM

Rating by Google

4.1 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the service of Vasquez Recycling Center:

“Have redeemed my recyclables here for years. When there aren’t many customers it’s a fast process, but can develop a line, the longest I’ve had to wait 15-20 min max.” – Demetrius B.
“Every time I go to this recycling place, they give me the right amount of money. I would leave happy. Basically I leave and don’t feel like I was cheated. Lol thank you.” – Michael Stuart
“A fast service, with parking.” – Felipe M.

Our Reviews

Sadly, Vasquez Recycling Center doesn’t have a website. So, you may call them first to know what kind of garbage you can bring there and the opening hours. There’s a review that mentioned they closed during office hours. Or, perhaps, read Google reviews to have some clues.

We also see some reviews about rude customer service, which the owner needs to pay attention to. But, another comment said that the crews were friendly. In addition, others recommend coming every day except on Wednesday, particularly from 1:30 to 2:30 PM, as the company shifts the big recycling bins.

Question and Answer

Question – “Do you take cardboard?”
Answer – “No, we don’t.”

Question – “Do you give money for glass, plastic, and cans?”
Answer – “Yes, they do.”

10. SOS Recycling Inc.

Unlike most recycling centers in Los Angeles that don’t take hazardous waste, SOS Recycling Inc. will solve your problem of dumping the materials. Operating since 1995, this recycling service offers solvent recycling, including virgin and chemical solvents.

Though they have a website that helps provide information about their services, we can’t find anything about the founder of this business. We also don’t see FAQ sections, which should be there to help people know about the company more.

Services

The main service of this recycling center is to handle your used solvents. But surprisingly, they also offer other services that are handy for their prospective customers. What are those?

Flexographic Solvent Recycling (handling, sorting, transporting, and recycling hazardous liquid waste, like solvents).
Waste Disposal (dispose solids, flammables, corrosives, inks, solvents materials and more).
Cleaning Chemicals & Supplies (washing and cleaning chemicals, including solvents, inks, lubricants, base oils and more).
Product Recycling & Reuse (recycling batteries, ballasts, lamps and recycle green waste into energy).
Equipment & Resale (resale used printing equipment, washing and ultrasonic cleaners, distillation equipment).

For more information, you can visit their website we’ve listed below.

Address

5540 Alhambra Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90032, United States

Website

www.recyclingcenters.org

Phone

+1 888-414-0555

+1 817-477-5207

Hours

The SOS Recycling Inc. open days:

Sunday 09:00 AM – 01:00 PM
Monday 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Tuesday 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Wednesday 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Thursday 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Friday 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Saturday 08:00 AM – 03:00 PM

Rating by Google

4.1 of 5 Stars.

Users Review

Here are some customer summary about the SOS Recycling Inc. service:

“Fast, friendly, good people.” – John Andrade
“Separate your recycling by your car – they provide trash cans for any bags/trash and then they will weigh your recycling and pay you in cash. If you want every cent down to the penny, bring coins.” – Haily Peters
“Excellent customer service!” – Shawnee Smith

Our Reviews

In addition to drop-off, we love that SOS Recycling provides a pickup service that is handy for those with packed work schedules. The recycling center also offers a wide range of hazardous waste handling services.

If we can give a brief suggestion, it will be best to put on the FAQ section about the pricing and other essential information to allow customers to learn more about this company. Besides, a review mentioned that the parking area is relatively packed. Hence, we don’t recommend visiting this recycling point during peak office hours.

Question and Answer

Question – “Hello! Do you take plastic bottles with caps on?”
Answer – “Yes. I was there today.”

Question – “Do they recycle electronics?”
Answer – “No. They only recycle bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles.”

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When Did Los Angeles Start Recycling?

While generally, large cities don’t have serious concerns about waste recycling, Los Angeles became the first city in the U.S. to start its home pilot recycling program in 1983.

In 1989, the state planned to convert the community waste in the landfill up to 50% by 2000. To achieve this goal, the government began distinguishing trash based on the materials in 1990. The yellow bins were for aluminum, tin cans, glass, and plastic bottles.

Meanwhile, the dumped newspaper must be tied next to those bins. The program continued up until 1993 when the green bins were added to accommodate yard waste into compost. The following year, a single pilot program was launched to introduce blue containers where residents could dump their food packaging, metals, paper, glass, and plastics labeled 1 and 2.

This blue bins plan was then submitted widely in 1997 throughout the city of Los Angeles.

Furthermore, metal hangers, plastics number 5 and 7, and plastic bags were allowed to be dumped in blue bins in 2004 and 2005, respectively. It was followed by polystyrene containers, packaging, and plastics in 2007. By 2011, Los Angeles had managed to recycle around 65% of its municipal waste.

How Good Is Los Angeles At Recycling?

When it comes to recycling, Los Angeles dares to take a big bite to reduce garbage from landfill. The diversion number of Los Angeles recycling is around 76.4%. This rate was obtained using the adopted calculator method from California. Moreover, the UCLA Engineering Extension’s Municipal Solid Waste Program also confirmed this report in 2013.

It was followed by another record from the same program that Los Angeles obtained the highest rate of converting trash into recycled items among the 10 largest cities in the U.S. Considering the fact, we can confidently say that the LA recycling program that’s now managed by LASAN is excellent!

What Is Not Recyclable In Los Angeles?

Los Angeles has a long history of recycling programs. It is in fact the first biggest city in the U.S. that started this approach and managed to divert 76.4% of the landfill waste. To this day, LA has four different curbs to separate its municipal wastes, which are blue, green, black, and brown bins.

Find out what trash is acceptable and non-acceptable in each bin, based on the LA Sanitation and Environment, below!

1. Blue Bins

Blue Bin Acceptable Trash: newspaper, paperboard, cardboard (incl. cereals and crackers), corrugated boxes, paper grocery bags, magazines, glossy paper, 6-pack cartons, junk mail, stationery and envelopes, and uncoated paper.
Blue Bin Non Acceptable Trash: plastic wrap and motor oil bottles, ovenware, windowpane glass/mirror, ceramic pottery (incl. cups and dishes), frozen and microwave food boxes, books, wax cereal/cracker box liners, gummed/glue bindings, paper towels, napkins, tissue paper, paper plates (incl. soiled paper), light bulbs, Styrofoam, soiled clothing, drinking glasses, food waste, disposable diapers, pet food bags, fast food wrappers, carbon and thermal fax paper, adhesive backed/sticky notes.

2. Green Bins

Green Bins Acceptable Trash: leaves, brush, grass clippings, sawdust, shrubbery pruning, trimmings, tree limbs (max. 4 diameter).
Green Bins Non Acceptable Trash: palm fronds and tree trimming, cacti, plastic or paper bags, dirt and rocks, food and animal waste, and trash.

3. Black Bins

Black Bins Acceptable Trash: the non acceptable items from green and blue curbs.
Black Bins Non Acceptable Trash: newspaper, paperboard, cardboard (incl. cereals and crackers), corrugated boxes, brown grocery bags, magazines, glossy paper, books, 6-pack cartons, junk mail, stationery and envelopes, uncoated paper, binder/notebook paper of any color, telephone books, aluminum cans, foil, trays, tin & bi-metal cans, glass bottles and jars (empty & rinsed of any color), all plastic food containers #1 & #2, plastic bottles and containers (incl. shampoo, detergent, bleach, milk, soda, water, and aspirin containers, etc.), microwave food trays, scrap metal, and frozen food boil-in-bag.

4. Brown Bins

Brown Bins Acceptable Trash: horse manure.
Brown Bins Non Acceptable Trash: all trash from blue, green, and black bins.

How Many Recycling Centers Are In California?

Recycling is not only collecting and diverting waste into recycled products or materials. Besides, it is a multi-billion dollar business in California to support the recycling program. There are tons of companies that are involved in the industry. To date, there are approximately 2400 certified recycling centers throughout California.

These recycling services serve more than 16 million Californian to collect, manufacture, and purchase the waste. Not only are these recycling centers helping to deal with the curbside, but they are also great to boost economic value! It is estimated that the industry obtains more than $1.2 billion dollars per year! What a fantastic number!

Final Thoughts

It’s nice to know that big cities like Los Angeles pay attention to waste and recycling management to reduce garbage in landfills. The city also has several top-tier recycling centers that residents can easily access to send their junk. And even more remarkable, LA has a SAFE Center operated by the LASAN, which is extremely helpful in dumping hazardous and non-acceptable wastes in many other recycling centers.

Having this privilege, you can help them out by sorting the trash before driving them off to the recycling point. You must also find out what kind of recyclable items you can bring and which ones are unacceptable. So, you’ll facilitate the crews’ work and thus save time.

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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Does Los Angeles have a recycling program?

Yes. LASAN (LA Sanitation and Environment) initiated the recycling program in LA County. It provides waste collection for 750,000 LA households by dividing bins into four parts, namely blue (recycling), green (yard trimmings), black (trash), and brown (horse manure) ones. This practice was able to reduce as much as 76.4% in landfill.

In 2019, Major Eric Garcetti secured a deal by launching the Los Angeles Green New Deal program to achieve zero waste, clearing out Styrofoam, eliminating straw and single-use food containers, and no trash sent to the landfill by 2050.

Does Los Angeles recycle plastic?

Not only accepting cans and bottles in the recycling center, but the LA recycling center also receives plastic materials. They take all plastic food containers and bottles from shampoo, bleach, milk, soda, water, and detergent packaging. You can use blue waste disposal to dump your plastic junk or use a drop off service at the nearest recycling center in Los Angeles.

Can you put plastic bags in recycling bins in Los Angeles?

Besides food and household packaging, you can dump your plastic bags in blue recycling bins in Los Angeles despite having no recyclable symbols. However, you must make sure they are clean and dry, so they will be easy to recycle.

Where does LA waste go?

If you wonder where wastewater ends in Los Angeles, it will likely be piped into Santa Monica. Meanwhile, LASAN (LA Sanitation and Environment) will collect the recyclable materials.

Furthermore, green and brown waste, like leaves, twigs, manure, and other yard trimmings, are composted in the processing facilities managed by LASAN. In case you have hazardous waste, you can drop it off at the S.A.F.E center. In addition, the black bins will surely end up in the Puente Hills landfill.