California | Beverage Container Recycling & Litter Reduction Act

Fifteen years after Oregon passed their bottle bill, California passed the Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (AB 2020).  Similar to Oregon’s program, AB 2020 has undergone a number of amendments, including expanding materials in 2000, increasing deposit rates in 2004 and 2007, and more. The full history of AB 2020 is available here. 

What’s Included?

According to the Bottle Bill Resource Guide, California’s AB 2020 covers beer and malt beverages, wines and spirits, wine coolers and distilled spirits, all non-alcoholic beverages (except milk), 100% fruit juice forty-six ounces or larger, and vegetable juices over sixteen ounces that are packaged in aluminum, glass, plastic, and “bi-metal.”

Exemptions include milk and beverages in refillable containers.

What’s the Refund Value?

California’s AB 2020 has different rates for material sizes, unlike Oregon’s program that has a ten cents USD deposit amount on all covered containers. California’s breakdown includes: 

• Containers that are < twenty-four ounces: five cents USD 

• Containers that are > or equal to twenty-four ounces: ten cents USD 

• Wine or spirits in a box, pouch, etc: twenty-five cents USD (effective Jan 1, 2024)

Impact of DRS in California

Similar to Oregon, as an earlier mover in DRS legislation California has seen the benefits of DRS—highlighted in their 2018 rates for recycling PET, aluminum, and glass.

PET recycling rate (2018): 56% (third highest in country behind Maine and Oregon)

Aluminum recycling rate (2018): 77% (third highest in country behind Maine & Oregon)

Glass recycling rate (2018): 49% (eighth in the country)

*data from 50 States of Recycling 2.0 by Ball Corporation & Eunomia

California also lays out the redemption rates specific to the program itself in this guide, including a 66% redemption rate for aluminum, a 43% rate for glass, and a 61% rate for PET. 

Learn more about California’s Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act here.

Read about the bottle bills in the nine other US states here.