Skip to content

Friday, Apr. 18, 2025

Does Nevada pay people to recycle cans and bottles?

Amy Alonzo, The Nevada Independent
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.

See a full discussion of this at The Nevada Independent

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

The Nevada Independent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news and opinion website founded in 2017 by veteran political journalist and commentator Jon Ralston. The site and its supporting channels are focused on ethical, unbiased and transparent journalism. In general, we aim to gather and disseminate important public information and increase civic engagement. We are supported by corporate donations, memberships, event ticket sales and sponsorships and foundation grants. We disclose all our members and donors. Donors have no influence over our content, ever. The Nevada Independent is the dba for Nevada News Bureau, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Thompson, who now serves as one of The Nevada Independent's managing directors and its Editor.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.