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Recycling center opens in Poway

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If you’re looking to redeem your bottles and cans for cash or to exercise your environmental savvy, Poway has a new recycling center to take your drink containers, scrap metal, cardboard, newspapers and more.

Quality Recycling opened its Poway location on March 27 at 13863 Poway Road, near Adah Lane. The phone number is 858-668-1780. The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The center is closed on Sunday.

Owned and operated by North County residents and brothers Brent and Troy Reynolds, the 4,000-square-foot recycling center pays consumers $1.60 per pound for CRV (California Refund Value) beverage containers — aluminum cans, plastic bottles and glass. Currently, the center is offering a bonus to customers with a coupon in this newspaper for a $1.70-per-pound rate for CRV containers.

Other materials can be recycled, paying customers various amounts by the pound: copper, brass, scrap aluminum, stainless steel, cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper.

“It’s a good time to come to Poway,” said owner-operator Brent Reynolds, noting they opened here because there hasn’t been a recycling center that recycles a large variety of commodities in Poway for years.

“Recycling is becoming a larger industry anyways,” he continued. “People are conscious of it, and I know that the Poway people are conscious of it. So if they have an alternate to giving it to the trash company and being able to get ... some cash value for the material, then they are prone to use [our center].”

The center began when the Reynolds’ father and uncle started a Quality Recycling center in 1985 in Vista.

The business was later expanded to Lakeside, which the Reynolds brothers purchased over seven years ago. Because the Lakeside center had a ton of business, Brent and Troy Reynolds opened a second Lakeside facility in 2005.

Five years later, the brothers opened their third location in Poway. The Vista center is still owned by their father and uncle.

Typically, the two Lakeside facilities combined take in 55,000 to 70,000 cans a month, and 100,000 to 120,000 pounds of glass. They are run through a baler machine which compacts them into approximately five-foot cubes. Materials are then shipped to Los Angeles, Riverside, or locally.

When Californians purchase canned and bottled beverages, they are charged an additional amount: a CRV deposit of five cents for each container less than 24 ounces, and 10 cents each for those over that size. To get that money back, consumers must either recycle them at a center like Quality Recycling or a recycling kiosk, such as those usually found behind grocery stores. Otherwise, those who want to recycle their CRV containers typically place them in household curbside recycling bins without payment.

Unlike recycling kiosks behind supermarkets, which usually issue vouchers to be cashed inside the store, the Quality Recycling center is more convenient because it pays customers on site, said Reynolds.

“You don’t have to go back into the grocery store to get your money, which I think is kind of a hassle for a lot of people, especially if they’re in a hurry,” Reynolds said.

Recycling at Quality Recycling usually increases in summer, when people drink more canned and bottled beverages.

Quality Recycling also is service-oriented, as staff are available to help customers unload and sort their materials, even those who drive in a truckload of recyclables.

“We’re prone to helping people,” Reynolds said, adding as the Poway business grows, he expects to increase staff to further assist customers. Across the two busy Lakeside locations, there is a total of 15 on staff.

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