Orange County Conservation Corps

I never thought I’d be reviewing a recycle center, but I came here so often I established a rapport with the employees. I’ll miss this recycle center, the employees were all so helpful and friendly. When I didn’t understand why a container wasn’t recyclable they were the ones who could explain it to me.
Did you know, wine bottles are not recyclable for any cash back? Or plastic containers for Orange Juice or other juices over 64 .oz, are also not recyclable for cash? I didn’t. Also, if a container does not have the CA Refund on the label, they’re not to accept it. Strange, right?!
Anyhow, these guys are wonderful, it’s easy peasy to get in and out super quick. Everyone should take their recycling here, if they want their money back, care about the eco system, environment, what they breathe and the health of the planet they live on!

I’m sorry but we have given your business another chance and on top of the low refund we were getting, the workers there were very rude and we haven’t returned back since. So you might wanna give them some more lessons on how to better serve the customers! Thanks

Friendly, convenient, and got in and out of here very quick. Will definitely return.

I don’t like giving low scores unless the business deserves it but today it does. I came here at 433pm at 6÷14÷14. The sign says you are open from 10am-​5pm.
I got ZERO service. That’s because everyone went home early for the day. Don’t lie about your hours.
Your sign should state: We are open from Tues-​Sat from 10am-​5pm but we may go home early if we feel like it. So call first before coming.

Good service. But you will not get anything close to the actual value. For example, my $ 104 worth turned into $ 84. If they want to charge a 20% service fee, that’s fine, just be up front about it. I will try another place to see if they are closer. Unfortunately, this is the type of business where you can only get screwed «less.»

Quick service. However, I don’t think they count up each bottles individually. Instead, they do it by weight, which gives you less cash back. :(I probably wouldn’t return.

Quick, effecient and easy. They sort and weigh them. Great place.

Quick and easy place to get $ for your recyclable plastic bottles and cans. They pay by weight so you won’t get full CRV value. Workers are very nice. Located in the Construction Circle industrial area; it ain’t pretty but they get the job done.

Easy place to return your recyclables for deposit.
My only issue is why do they have to use so much paper for a recycling place? Everyone who gets cash back has to sign a full-​page receipt and another slip for the initial count.

Going Green has never been so easy!
Why go there to recycle? I’ll give you a long and short version just in case you’re not in the mood to read my long winded dissertation on why they’re so awesome, lol!
Short Version: They’re really friendly, helpful, fast and you get a lot of cash for your cans and bottles. Just drive up and hand them your bags and they’ll do the rest!
Where you pick up the cash after they’re done weighing:
Long Version: These guys help the environment and the community at the same time! I know its long, but I copy-​pasted their Mission Statement from their website just because I’m really impressed with how much good they do.
«The Orange County Conservation Corps serves young, at-​risk adults through employment, training and educational programs that build self-​sufficiency and benefit the community through conservation-​related projects.
The OCCC’s approach to employability teaches teamwork and cooperation by utilizing work projects that are beneficial to the community and the environment by creating an atmosphere where corpsmembers have the chance to develop on an educational, professional and personal level.»
They are located in an industrial /​construction sector of Irvine, but super easy to find. Working from a sorting table, they then place all your recyclables into bins for weighing. Just walk up to the shack and claim your good-​deed prize money! This sure beats the Greenopolis Kiosks that used to be a Whole Foods Market!

These dudes are sooo chill. I look forward to coming here because the workers are really friendly and the recycling return rate ($$) is really good.

Completely deserving of 5 stars.
For a messy, smelly task, the team here is ALWAYS kind. They work with a smile, always ask if you’d like to keep your bags, and thank you for stopping by.
They’ll even take some containers you can’t normally recycle in the self-​service machines.
Always a pleasure to visit. Best way to arrive is via Jamboree, exiting Warner (as if you were going to the District).

Wow. Awesome friendly service. These guys are awesome!
Pro tip: they will sort your bottles and cans for you, so don’t worry about pre-​sorting if you don’t have the time.
Seriously the most friendly service ever.

My husband and I have bags and bags filled with cans in our garage. Once we run out of space, we hurry our bootys over here to the OC Conservation Corps, and get cash for cans.
What’s the process like?
1. Unload your car and drag your bags of recyclables to the canopy area.
2. Someone will dump your cans and bottles out on the table and sort them all out for you. *Note: if you want to get even MORE money, have your cans, plastics, and glass bottles presorted.
3. All your recyclables get dumped into a blue trashcan, that then gets weighed on a big scale.
4. Take slip of paper to the counter, where they give you the cold, hard CASH.
The staff here are super friendly and we always leave with a good chunk of change! Love this place!

I’ve been to this recycling center a few times now and always have a pleasant experience. I never had to wait in line until this morning when I arrived a few minutes after it opened. Guess that’s what happens when they aren’t open on Sunday and Monday (and I guess everyone had parties this weekend from Easter? ^_​^) I am always suprised to find how much money I get back from recycling water bottles and soda cans since we don’t really drink much soda. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get credit for a lot of the wine bottles and beer bottles that I brought it. Isn’t that under «glass» sigh. I remember getting credit for it in the past. Oh well, it’s nice lunch money. (~$ 10−15/month)

I work in the Environmental field, so any place that does something good for the environment automatically gets 5 stars, but this place exceeds it…10 stars!!! This is gem, more like jade or emerald … because it goes GREEN!!! If you have a bags of cans, bottles, glass piled up in your garage waiting to be recycled (AND YA’LL BEST DO!!!) this is the place. Instead of going to the market where you recycle each bottle at a time, this place throws it all in a bin and weighs, it and you get CASH!!! So you can go down to The District to speeeend it! It’s a little hidden, but you’ll be able to find it, it’s where that huge concrete batch plant you always see driving down Jamboree off Warner. Anyways, what makes this place great is the people! There’s a young lady that works there, she’s SUPER SUPER nice and she really BELIEVES in recycling! That’s just so AWESOME!!!

Today I finally decided to take the 30+ bags of bottles we had building up in our garage to be recycled. So I searched Unilocal!for a close recycling place and behold! I found this one. So I loaded up the car and took it all down to the recycling center.
I thought I was going to have a hell of a time finding this place, but it was actually really easy. When I pulled up, they greeted us and asked us if it was our first time. I said «yes» and they let me know how the process works.
The employees were really friendly and they chatted it up with us as they were sorting, weighing and calculating. After All the bags they had to sort and bottle’s they had to weigh in, I was in and out in 20 minutes. In the end, they gave me my mula and a detailed receipt
showing what was weighted in.

The friendliest staff ever! And clean for a recycle place!
They are closed Sunday and Monday.
Open: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat
10:00 am– 5:00 pm
I gots me monies! I did have to wait a tad, there are professional recyclers that take a truck. I have a mommy mobile (No I don’t have kids, I just have a boring car)
They offer to print you our exactly what you brought, price, etc.
I’m soooo happy to have found this place via Unilocal!Thank you!

Made another stop here to trade my recyclables for cold hard cash… well to get back the CRV money that they charge when you buy the stuff…
Always very friendly service and a quick transaction, unless there is a line of people also trying to recycle. Thankfully when I arrived there was no wait, but as I left there were 3 or 4 groups of people that had just arrived.
Oh, just so you know, cans are by far the most valuable beverage container to recycle.
And beware of spiders. I keep my recyclables outside and found a bunch of those little buggers hanging out with the bottles this trip.

Best recycling experience ever!
Pros: friendly, really helpful, quick, efficient, clean
Cons: none
Useful links:
The first link is a pdf of the nearby recycling centers in Irvine with their contact info, hours of operation, and map. You can print this out for your fridge.
This link is just more information about recycling in Irvine.
Here’s how Easy (with a capital E) it was:
1. Get in my car with my bottles/​cans/​other stuff of uncertain «recyclability» and drive there
2. Park
3. Take recyclables from car (They offered help, but I did it myself anyway)
4. They sort and count for you!!!
5. They educate you about what is recyclable.
6. They pay you and give you a detailed print-​out receipt. It tells you how many lbs of each type of recyclable you brought in and how much you received for each type.
The best part of the experience wash how genuinely courteous and friendly everyone was. I would definitely recommend bringing your bottles, cans, and newspapers here.