FACT BRIEFDoes Nevada pay people to recycle cans and bottles?
No.
Fewer than a dozen states have a program that collects a small deposit on packaged drinks, refunding it when people recycle the cans or bottles. Nevada is not one of them.
In 2011, lawmakers passed AB427, which created a committee to study deposits and refunds on recyclables; in 2013, the committee chose not to pursue a bottle bill.
In 2019, Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) proposed a pilot program adding a deposit to bottle purchases but the bill never passed out of the Senate.
It is against federal law to transport recyclables over state lines for monetary gain. In 2010, 31 people were arrested for allegedly transporting recyclables from states including Nevada into California, which has a bottle deposit program. Some of the materials were filled with sand to increase their weight, and they redeemed $3.5 million. In 2020, 11 people were arrested on suspicion of a similar scheme.
The Nevada Independent partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Sources
- Waste Management Frequently asked questions
- LegiScan AB427
- Nevada Legislature SB310
- Los Angeles Times 31 arrested on suspicion of selling out-of-state recyclables in California
- The Mercury News 11 arrested in California in multi-state bottles and cans recycling scheme
It’s up to all of us to spread the truth.
Nevada lawmakers will be in session until June, and the fate of the bills they are debating will hinge in large part on the quality of the facts they’re working with.
Do free school lunches increase food waste? Do red flag laws reduce suicide rates? Does universal pre-K boost the economy?
We want to bring independent, rigorous fact checks to inform the public and policymakers on these crucial questions. We’re doing it through briefs that clearly answer a question with a yes or no in 150 words or less.
The Nevada Independent is always on the lookout for claims that could use a fact check. But we could use your eyes and ears too. If you're on social media or consuming news and come across a statement that raises questions for you — let us know.
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