City of Laguna Hills City Council Council Members Mayor September 27, 2022 Don W. Caskey, Faia Dave Wheeler Erica Pezold*

Due to the reduced availability of convenient CRV redemption sites and the lack of accurate online information, it is difficult for resident consumers to redeem CRV fees. Response: Agrees with the finding. Resident customers have contacted the City of Laguna Hills, other cities, and the County of Orange to find locations for CRV redemption. The CRV locations are not always convenient to the customer locations and require extra effort and travel benefit from the redemption program. The recent passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1013 may lead to an increase of CRV redemption sites throughout the state. SB 1013 allows for dealers - retail establishments that offer sales of beverages in beverage containers - to create and join dealer cooperatives for the purpose of providing redemption opportunities to resident consumers. Consequently, in the near future, the state may see an increase of CRV redemption sites and increased opportunities for resident consumers to receive a beverage container redemption payment. 24035 El Toro Road • Laguna Hills, California 92653 • (949) 707-2610 • FAX (949) 707-2614 website: www.lagunahillsca.gov

Because redemption site locations have diminished in number, waste haulers are the beneficiaries to the CRV fees paid originally by resident consumers. Response: Agrees with the finding. With the added effort resident customers must put forth to benefit from CRV redemption, many choose to forego the fees they would receive and dispose of the material instead. Waste haulers have better access to the redemption sites than resident customers, although it is not confirmed the waste haulers are benefiting from this availability. However, with the recent passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1013 on September 9, 2022, the CRV redemption value increase to 10-cents on most of the bottles. It also establishes a 25-cent refund on "difficult to recycle" wine packaging including boxes, bladders, pouches and similar plastic containers. This redemption value increase may result in more resident consumers recycling their beverage containers to obtain the beverage container redemption payment.

CalRecycle is attempting to improve CRV redemption and reduce CRV recyclables from landfills and are offering financial incentives to do so. Orange County and its cities are not fully taking advantage of the grant or pilot program opportunities available through CalRecycle. Response: Agrees with the finding. The City of Laguna Hills (City) considers available funding opportunities from CalRecycle including the grant and reporting requirements compared to the resources needed to implement new programs with CRV-related funding. Since the City has limited staffing and human resources directly related to recycling programs and waste hauling, certain grant and funding opportunities for the implementation of new recycling programs are not necessarily beneficial to the City. The City will continue to proactively explore all CalRecycle related CRV grants.