In California, most aluminum cans and small bottles are worth 5 cents each, and containers 24 fluid ounces or larger are worth 10 cents each under the state’s California Redemption Value program. Wine and spirits sold in boxes, pouches, or similar non-standard packaging carry a higher 25-cent deposit. Those are the deposits you paid at checkout, and they’re what a certified recycling center refunds when you bring the empties back. What you actually collect depends on how many containers you bring, what they’re made of, and whether the center pays you by count or by weight.
The Three CRV Rates
- 5 cents for any aluminum, glass, plastic, or bimetal beverage container under 24 fluid ounces.
- 10 cents for the same materials at 24 fluid ounces or more.
- 25 cents for wine or distilled spirits in a box, bladder, pouch, or similar non-standard container, regardless of size.
A standard 750ml wine bottle is about 25.4 ounces, so it falls in the 10-cent tier.1CalRecycle. Changes to the Beverage Container Recycling Program The 25-cent rate is narrow: it only applies to wine and spirits in bag-in-box, multi-layer pouches, and paperboard cartons.2CalRecycle. Beverage Container Recycling
Which Containers Qualify
CRV covers aluminum, glass, plastic, and bimetal containers of beer and malt beverages, wine, distilled spirits, water (still and carbonated), soda, soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks with any juice content, coffee and tea drinks, and vegetable juice. The only exempt beverages are milk, medical food, and infant formula.3California Legislative Information. California Code PRC 14504
Wine and spirits in standard glass, aluminum, and plastic bottles were added to CRV in January 2024, along with 100% fruit juice containers of 46 ounces or more and vegetable juice containers over 16 ounces.2CalRecycle. Beverage Container Recycling Here’s a wrinkle that costs people money in 2026: many of these newer containers still don’t print “CRV” on the label. The labeling requirement for wine, spirits, large fruit juice, and vegetable juice containers doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2026.4CalRecycle. Beverage Distributors and Manufacturers A container is redeemable whether or not it carries the marking, so don’t throw wine bottles in the trash just because the label is silent.
Count vs. Weight: The Choice That Changes Your Payout
You have a legal right to be paid by count for up to 50 containers of each traditional material per visit (50 aluminum, 50 glass, 50 plastic, 50 bimetal). For the newer container types added in 2024, the count limit is 25 each for bag-in-box, multi-layer pouches, and paperboard cartons. Beyond those thresholds, the recycling center chooses whether to keep counting or switch to paying by weight.2CalRecycle. Beverage Container Recycling
Payment by count gives you the full 5 or 10 cents for every container. Payment by weight uses statewide per-pound rates that CalRecycle updates periodically. As of January 1, 2026, aluminum pays roughly $1.66 per segregated pound, which works reasonably well because it takes about 31 cans to make a pound. Glass pays only about 10 cents per pound, and a pound of glass is fewer than 2 containers.5CalRecycle. California Recycling Program Rates – January 1, 2026
Always request payment by count for glass. Ten cents a bottle versus roughly a dime per pound is not a close comparison. Aluminum is closer, but counting still tends to give you the better return, especially if some of your cans are 24-ounce containers at 10 cents each.
Daily Limits
Recycling centers enforce daily weight caps per person. Exceed the limit for a material and the center must reject that entire load for the day:
- Aluminum: 100 pounds
- Plastic: 100 pounds
- Glass: 1,000 pounds
- Bag-in-box: 50 pounds
- Multi-layer pouches: 25 pounds
- Paperboard cartons: 25 pounds
For a typical household, these are generous; 100 pounds of aluminum is well over 3,000 cans. If you’re clearing out an event, a business, or a neighborhood drive, split the haul across multiple visits.2CalRecycle. Beverage Container Recycling
Where to Take Them
Certified recycling centers are the main redemption points, and CalRecycle publishes a locator at calrecycle.ca.gov. Sort your containers by material before you go, keep them reasonably clean, and empty out any leftover liquid. Dirty or wet containers can be rejected.
In zones without a nearby certified recycling center, dealers (typically larger supermarkets) must either accept CRV containers at the store during business hours or pay a $100 daily fee to the state fund until a center opens.6CalRecycle. Retailers/Dealers This mainly applies in rural parts of the state.
Food Cans and Other Non-CRV Metal
Food cans, pet food cans, and aerosol containers aren’t part of the deposit program. They still have some scrap value, but there’s no guaranteed rate and prices swing with commodity markets. Scrap yards pay by weight, and steel and tin cans fetch less per pound than aluminum. Clean, sorted, crushed loads price better than mixed dirty ones, and the volumes generally need to be significant before a scrap-yard trip earns back the effort.
Don’t Bring Cans From Out of State
Redeeming containers bought outside California is fraud. No CRV deposit was ever paid on them, so cashing them in is collecting money the state never received. If the amount involved exceeds $950, the penalty is up to one year in county jail and a $10,000 fine, or 16 months to 3 years in state prison and a fine up to $25,000. For $950 or less, the ceiling is six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine.7California Legislative Information. California Code PRC Chapter 8 – Fraud Prevention The state has pursued large cases: one recycling business and its manager were ordered to pay $140.5 million in combined restitution and criminal penalties for smuggling out-of-state containers into the program.8CalRecycle. Recycling Fraud Convicts Ordered to Pay California $140 Million for Bottle and Can Smuggling Scheme