Office of Public Affairs
For Immediate Release: November 8, 2019
News Release #2019-19
Media Contact: Sydney Fong
Company falsified names and data to receive payments for discarded electronic materials
SACRAMENTO–An Orange County-based electronic waste handler owes up to $154,836 in restitution to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) following a multi-year recycling fraud investigation.
“The E-Waste Recycling Program is meant to ensure that hazardous material is handled properly and does not harm our environment,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said. “Companies who try to take advantage of the program will find out that there are real consequences for their actions.”
In 2014, CalRecycle’s E-Waste Recycling Program staff found that Recycle Your City, a now-defunct company based in Costa Mesa, had discrepancies in collection logs, including inflated counts of materials and falsified names and addresses of individuals who supposedly discarded the electronic waste, as well a lack of source information. After this discovery, the department disallowed the approved recycler’s e-waste recycling payment claims for material from Recycle Your City. The E-Waste Recycling Program staff alerted the California Department of Justice, which launched an investigation and prosecuted the case.
On Oct. 27, 2017, Glen Davis, owner of Recycle Your City, pled guilty of attempt to file false/forged instrument and grand theft. On Jan. 29, 2019, he was sentenced to probation community service, and restitution. On May 14, 2019, Orange County Probation Department approved a maximum restitution amount of $154,836.
Davis was a handler, someone who collects and transfers electronic waste to a collector approved by the E-Waste Recycling Program. The approved collectors must provide compliant collection logs to CalRecycle for materials to be eligible for payment.
E-Waste Recycling Program Overview
The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 and associated regulations established a funding system for the collection and recycling of certain electronic waste. The E-Waste Recycling Program is intended to provide all Californians convenient ways to recycle certain electronic waste to keep hazardous materials from ending up in landfills.
Fast Facts: Electronic Waste in California
- California’s E-Waste Recycling Program has managed more than 2.3 billion pounds of e-waste since 2005
- Electronics are considered hazardous waste and are illegal to dispose of in household trash
- To find a e-waste recycle near you, visit calrecycle.ca.gov/Electronics/eRecycle
For more information contact, the Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov
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CalRecycle's mission is to protect California's environment and climate for the health and prosperity of future generations through the reduction, reuse and recycling of California resources, environmental education, disaster recovery, and the transition from a disposable to a fully circular economy.