Generally - Unlawful Acts - Public Resources - CA

Section § 41950

This law makes it illegal for anyone other than the city or county's official recycling agent to take recyclable materials like paper, glass, or aluminum that have been set out for collection in designated recycling areas. If someone does take these items, they won't face any legal action unless they knew or should have known that the recyclables were meant to be collected by the authorized recycling agent for recycling purposes.

Once recyclables are placed curbside for collection by the authorized agent, they become the property of that agent.

(a) No person, other than the authorized recycling agent of the city or county, shall remove paper, glass, cardboard, plastic, used motor oil, ferrous metal, aluminum, or other recyclable materials which have been segregated from solid waste materials and placed at a designated recycling collection location for residential curbside collection programs authorized by a city, county, or local agency for the purposes of collection and recycling.

(b) No person shall be subject to an action for a violation of this section, unless the person knows, or reasonably should know, that the materials would otherwise be collected by the authorized recycling agent for residential curbside collection programs authorized by a city, county, or local agency for the purpose of recycling the materials.

(c) From the time that the recyclable materials specified in subdivision (a) are placed for collection at curbside, for a residential curbside collection program authorized by a city, county, or local agency, the recyclable materials are the property of the authorized recycling agent.

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Section § 41951

This law sets rules for recyclable materials from businesses, including multifamily residential complexes. It states that any recyclable materials like paper, glass, and plastics that have been separated from trash and placed for pickup are owned by a designated recycling agent. This means only the designated recycling agent is allowed to collect them unless a contract says otherwise.

(a) For the purposes of this section, “commercial entity” includes a multifamily residential complex.

(b) Unless otherwise provided by contract, paper, glass, cardboard, plastics, used motor oil, ferrous metal, aluminum, and other recyclable materials, which have been segregated from other waste materials, and placed at the designated recycling collection location by any commercial or industrial entity, shall not be removed by anyone other than the authorized recycling agent.

(c) Unless otherwise provided by contract, from the time that the recyclable materials specified in subdivision (b) are placed at the designated recycling location, the recyclable materials are the property of the authorized recycling agent.

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Section § 41952

This law ensures that people have the freedom to donate, sell, or get rid of their recyclable materials in any way they choose, without any restrictions from this chapter of the law.

Nothing in this chapter limits the right of any person to donate, sell, or otherwise dispose of his or her recyclable materials.

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Section § 41953

This law section explains the penalties for unauthorized removal of recyclable materials. If someone takes recyclables without permission, a recycling agent can sue them. The penalties can be either triple the value of the taken materials or up to $2,000, whichever is higher. If the offender repeats this within a year, the penalty increases to triple the value or up to $5,000 per incident, whichever is higher.

(a) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951, the court may either allow treble damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized removal, against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material.

(b) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951 for a second, or subsequent time, in any 12-month period, the court may either allow treble damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized removal against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material.

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Section § 41954

This section allows local agencies to create and enforce their own rules about the issues covered in this article, as long as they don’t conflict with it. If a local agency wants to impose fines through these rules, the fines must be approved by a majority vote of the agency's governing board.

Nothing in this article limits the authority of a local agency to adopt or enforce regulations or ordinances on the same matters of this article. However, any ordinance which imposes civil penalties shall be approved by a majority vote of the governing board which has proposed adoption of the ordinance.

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Section § 41955

If someone steals material worth more than $50 but under $950, it can be considered a minor crime, either a misdemeanor or an infraction. However, if they commit this crime again within a year after already being convicted twice, the charge will automatically be a misdemeanor with a specific penalty under another law.

If the value of the stolen material is more than fifty dollars ($50), but less than nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), a violation of this part may be charged as either a misdemeanor or an infraction. A violation after a second conviction within a 12-month period shall be charged as a misdemeanor punishable pursuant to Section 19 of the Penal Code.

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Section § 41956

This law allows the board to give special grants to cities or counties. These grants are meant to help fund pilot programs. The aim of these programs is to create and test new ways to prevent the theft of recyclable materials from businesses and other nonresidential places.

The board may award special enforcement grants to cities or counties to support pilot programs designed to develop and evaluate enforcement techniques to reduce the theft of recyclable materials from commercial, industrial, or other nonresidential establishments.

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