55C - RESO - RECYCLING MARKET DEVELOPMENT ZONE

Home Browse Search

Recycling Market Development Zone may spur jobs in O.C. The push is on to establish to RMDZ — Recycling Market Development Zone — in Orange County. The program provides business loans, technical assistance and free product marketing to "businesses that use materials from the waste stream to manufacture their products," according to CalRecycle. At a recent meeting in THuntington Beach City Hall, local business people, city staff', Chamber of Commerce representatives, CalRecycle personnel and officials front some of O.C.'s 34 cities came to hear about the program. Leading the effort is the city's new Senior Sustainability Analyst, Antonia Graham. She replaced Aaron Klemm, the former energy project manager, who now is Division Manager of Environmental initiatives for Los Angeles County. RMDZs have created 9,000 jobs in California and diverted 7.5 million tons of waste from landfills, CalRecycle's Kathryn Ferrer told the crowd. She added that currently there are 35 RMDZ,s covering about 43 percent of the state, including the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino. The missing link in Southern California is Orange County. Graham wants Huntington Beach to take on the role of zone administrator for O.C. She is recruiting other cities and believes an RMDZ, will create local jobs in recycling -based manufacturing. Once the zone is established, various resources will be available to companies that reuse or repurpose recyclables into new products, not just collect recyclable materials. Qualifying businesses can take advantage of free product marketing via the online ReC}cle Store. "It's business friendly, it's economic development, and it's no cost; said Jim Kuhl, zone administrator for the City of Long Beach. For interested cities and counties, CalRecycle does not charge a fee to apply for RMDZ designation. In fact, each zone (not each individual city) has access to funding of $4,500 for education and outreach. Zone designations last 10 years but must be reviewed every two years. Long Beach has been an RMDZ for 24 years, Kuhl sand, adding "It's a tool in the city's economic development." One selling point for businesses is the availability of loans up to $2 million at 4 percent interest. Many of the companies that apply are start -ups. There is a $300 loan application fee, CalRecycle assists businesses with the application process, which may take up to a year, or as quickly as two months if all the paperwork is in order. One RMDZ success story is U1traGlas in the city of Chatsworth. The company uses 100 percent recycled glass to create art and architectural products for interior and exterior applictrtions. `these include residential and commercial glass tile, partitions, countertops, doors, lighting, furniture and water features. 55C -8