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California's largest recycling business closes, 750 laid off

SAN JOSE, Calif. — California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centres has shut down and laid off 750 employees.

The Mercury News reports Monday that the company RePlanet has closed all 284 of its centres.

RePlanet’s president David Lawrence says the company stopped operating because of increased business costs and falling prices of recycled aluminum and PET plastic.

Now San Francisco Bay Area residents are left with few options for redeeming their recyclables.

The move comes three years after RePlanet closed 191 of its recycling centres and laid off almost 300 employees.

Advocates are urging the state to reform how it subsidizes recycling centres. They worry that now more recyclables will end up in landfills.

The Associated Press