Scrap yard cuts back recycling

Citing legal costs, Chico Scrap Metal stops CRV recycling service

Chico Scrap Metal will stop collecting CRV (California Refund Value) materials Friday (Aug. 6), citing its ongoing legal battle with the city of Chico.

The action is the latest in a decade-plus-long saga (see “Far from settled”). CSM was originally ordered by the city in 2006 to move from its East 20th Street location within five years but received multiple extensions. In 2016, pressed by a referendum effort led by a citizens group called Move The Junkyard, the City Council overturned an ordinance that would have allowed the business to stay, and legal wrangling continues.

“Chico Scrap Metal must re-structure and financially prepare for this very costly task and therefore stop business practices that are more service driven than profit making,” a statement on CSM’s website reads. The business will continue to collect other scrap metal.

Aside from CSM, the nearest large-scale recycling centers are located in Oroville, but a number of Chico locations do in-store CRV redemption; check CalRecycle’s website.

4 Comments

  1. When dialing the phone number for the city of chico California the ogm states chico is a beautiful city and the best place to raise a family. I differ in opinion. Chico has pressured the last recycling center they have Chico Scrap Metal, to shut down over aesthetics. Recycling centers are never going to be visually pleasing. Chico Scrap Metal is in the most convenient location to Costco where most of us with families shop. When I raised my family I took them to the recycling center with their bottles and cans. It was a great lesson in environmentalism, work ethic, and money management. This is a punch in the face of all that was great about chico in the past. What an ugly city chico has become. Shame on you.

  2. I used the search bar and there are no crv sites listed for Chico. The City of Chico is taking crv money from its citizens, creating increased fossil fuel use, and jeopardizing our already full landfills. Shame

    • Hello, Nancy. We updated the link to take you directly to the in-store CRV redemption search. Type in a zip code for Chico and you’ll get a list (95928, for example, has one location; 95926 has several).

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