California grant will bring new recycling technology to Central Coast

According to Cal Recycle, Californians throw away 290 Olympic-sized pools worth of plastic a day.

The Beverage Container Redemption Innovation Grant, which was given to 30 counties across the state, will help fund new ways to recycle and reduce that number.

The new recycling options will include mobile recycling, bag drop-off locations, and reverse vending machines.

"The machines are certified by California as a certified recycler, so that takes the obligations of collection away from the stores themselves," said Philip Stanger, co-founder of Olyns, a company that makes reverse vending machines.

According to Cal Recycle, Smart & Final was given $2.5 million to install reverse vending machines in front of their stores in San Luis Obispo County.

The machine looks like a vending machine but you feed it with your recyclables, and then the machine does the rest.

"It identifies containers. We use AI image recognition to identify containers. Once it's identified, it is sorted in the machine into three different containers — one just plastic, one aluminum, and one glass," Stanger explained.

After you drop off your recyclables, you can use an app to receive your money, which is the CRV you paid when you initially bought the bottle.

Simple & Green LLC, a Central Coast recycling company, received $3 million to implement the bag drop-off recycling method.

Bedford Enterprises, another Central Coast recycling company, received $2.1 million for mobile recycling and $3 million for bag recycling.

Simple & Green, Bedford Enterprises, and Smart & Final all said they are planning exactly how they'll use the grant funding.