Recycling Industry Is Struggling, Bay Area Businesses Say

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - NOVEMBER 16: Workers sort recyclable materials as they pass through a sorting machine at Recology's Recylce Central on November 16, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Recology has installed a state-of-the-art recycling system at their 200,000 square foot Recycle Central facility that is capable of increasing their daily processing of recyclable materials by 170 tons. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

UNION CITY, Calif.—A long line of vehicles stretched along the road outside Tri-CED Community Recycling in Union City, Calif., on July 23, waiting to unload empty cans and bottles. The wait was anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. 

“There’s no other place. I used to go to Food Source, just around the block from my house—that was so easy. … Now, this is the only place I know,” Paul Rodriguez told The Epoch Times. “This is my third time here. It’s always like this.”