Residents wanting to exchange their recyclables for cash can do so again at the recycling center at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, which reopened last month under new operators who say they can accept more than before.
OC Recycling and Orange Coast College officials on Wednesday, Feb. 19, celebrated the reopening of the recycling center located off of Adams Avenue at 2701 Fairview Rd. OC Recycling, a private company that operates other facilities throughout the county, reopened the facility and has begun processing recyclables again.
“This is an iconic facility that’s been in this community for a long time, and we were sad to see it go,” said Ryan Bloom, who owns OC Recycling. “Our business is basically what this is. So to be able to expand into this facility is a dream come true for us.
Anyone with recyclables can come in, weigh their items, and get a receipt, which they then take to the cashier’s office to get cash. The facility is open seven days a week.
Beverage bottles, cans, metals, cardboard, televisions, other e-waste materials and more are accepted at the location.
The material, Bloom said, is sent to mills throughout the country for processing.
“It’s zero landfills,” Bloom said. “100% recycled.”
The recycling center opened in 1970 and was operated by the Associated Students of Orange Coast College.
“It was following the first Earth Day celebration after a visit from an environmental advocate, Ralph Nader, one student asked, ‘How can we make a difference locally?’” said OCC President Angelica Suarez. “Nader’s response was simple: start a recycling fundraiser. And from that, they created a lasting legacy that we have here today.”
The newest building for the recycling center opened in 2017. It had closed for more than a year at the start of the pandemic and then was closed in late 2023 after dealing with staffing issues.
The college then began looking for a new operator that could keep the recycling center open, landing on OC Recycling, which Bloom owns with his wife, Lisa Bloom.
Savannah Garcia, Student Government of Orange Coast College student body president, said the facility in its past offered jobs, scholarships and leadership opportunities that were invaluable for students.
The facility also houses a program called Recycle From Home, which Bloom described as operating like an Uber but for recycling. After downloading an app, people can schedule their recyclables to be picked up from their homes and get paid.
The program is in eight cities and areas: Costa Mesa, Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange, Laguna Niguel, Irvine, unincorporated Orange County, Riverside and Corono. It will also soon operate in Huntington Beach.
Bloom said people will be most excited that they “don’t have to take the bottle caps off anymore” when bringing their plastic bottles in.