2003 Annual Report: Waste Prevention and Market Development
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Recycling Business Loans
The Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Program (RMDZ loans) provides loans to businesses within 40 board-designated Recycling Market Development Zones (RMDZ). It finances businesses that process or use material that would otherwise be disposed in landfills. According to RMDZ administrators, it is their most important tool in attracting, developing, and retaining recycling-based manufacturers. These manufacturers use recycled material as feedstock to make new products, which results in the diversion of waste from landfills. This helps local jurisdictions meet and maintain their 50 percent State waste diversion mandate and creates twice the economic impact than if the waste material were disposed.
The Board issued $13.7 million in loans from the State Tire Fund and the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Account (IWMA) to 12 recycling businesses in 2003. Two tire recycling businesses received $2.9 million from the Tire Fund and 10 other recycling businesses received $10.8 million from the IWMA. The tire recyclers are projected to create 30 jobs and divert 35,519 tons of used tires annually.
The businesses recycling other material are projected to create 196 jobs and divert another 120,320 tons annually. Together, these businesses are projected to create a total of 226 jobs and divert 155,839 tons annually from California Landfills. Items diverted will include used tires, electronic waste, plastics, paperboard, organic matter, and construction and demolition (C&D) debris. For the first time, the RMDZ loan program funded an electronic waste recycling business, which will process 15,000 tons annually of computers, cell phones and other electronic waste into usable metal, plastic, and fiberglass. The loan program also funded its first vermicomposting operation, which will use earthworms to convert 5,000 tons annually of organic waste into a superior soil amendment.
Recycling Market Development Zones
A total of 40 Recycling Market Development Zones (RMDZ) cover almost 72,000 square miles (44 percent of California) from San Diego to the Oregon border. These zones include urban areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco and rural areas such as Humboldt County and the Mojave Desert, and they contain more than 60 percent of the state’s population. RMDZs are geographic areas designated by the Board for the purpose of fueling the startup and expansion of businesses, creating jobs, and reducing waste. Businesses that use waste materials to manufacture their products within a zone may be eligible for loans, technical assistance, and free product marketing.
In 1993, the Board designated the first RMDZs for a ten-year period. These RMDZs are now making a significant contribution to solid waste diversion, business development, and job creation. Most of the RMDZs have applied, or are expected to apply, to be redesignated for another decade. In applying for redesignation, each zone obtained commitments of support from cities and counties, agencies, and organizations and prepared a detailed recycling market development plan. The Board approved the redesignation of 14 zones during the year, from the South San Diego RMDZ to the North Coast RMDZ in Humboldt County. Two zones-the North Coast zone (formerly called the Humboldt County RMDZ) and the Sacramento Regional RMDZ-were so effective that they requested an expansion of the zone. Now they can offer services to more recycling businesses covering a larger geographic area. The RMDZ program continues to be an effective way for the Board and local governments, in partnership, to develop and retain local job-creating recycling-based manufacturers.
Economic Gardening Demonstration Project
The Board, under contract with CSU San Bernardino, sponsored an “Economic Gardening” demonstration project. Economic gardening is an alternative to the traditional economic development practice of recruiting industries or “economic hunting.” The Board wanted to demonstrate that economic gardening could be used to stimulate the growth of recycling-based manufacturers while increasing the diversion of solid waste from landfills. The purpose of the project was to assist businesses from among a number of RMDZs and to assess the benefits to those businesses. Twenty-six businesses participated in the project within 14 RMDZs. Nearly all of the businesses experienced an immediate increase in sales, or anticipated an increase in sales, as a result of the project. More than two-thirds of the project participants want the Board to provide economic gardening services permanently.
Jobs Through Recycling
The Jobs Through Recycling (JTR98) project, funded in part by the U.S. EPA, commenced in the fall of 1998 and was completed in October 2003. The JTR program brings together the economic development and recycling communities through networking and information sharing. Through JTR, U.S. EPA supports projects designed to enhance business development, provide technical assistance, and finance efforts for recycling-related industries.
The Board’s project was intended to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of developing a regional market for locally generated waste. The project formed a broad partnership of federal, State and local governments, nonprofit recycling organizations, the Oakland/Berkeley Recycling Market Development Zone, and the Alameda County Waste Management Authority. The project exceeded its goals by facilitating the startup or expansion of nine businesses. It created more than 100 jobs and diverted more than 140,000 tons of waste per year with an expected ultimate diversion of 209,000 tons annually. It allowed collectors and local governments to sell material locally rather than export recyclables out of state or out of the country. In addition, more than $10 million of capital was invested in plant and equipment and public infrastructure.
The Economic Benefits of Recycling
The Board has summarized the results of two independent economic studies it sponsored on recycling in a new publication, Is Recycling Good for California’s Economy? The University of California, Berkeley, published one study, The Economic Impact of Waste Disposal and Diversion in California. The National Recycling Coalition in association with R.W. Beck authored the second study, the California Recycling Economic Information Study. Although their goals differed slightly, the studies came to similar conclusions, that recycling is good for California’s economy. The studies found that recycling has twice the economic impact of disposal. The brochure was distributed as part of a master plan to better educate local decision makers and State policymakers that recycling is big business comparable to the state’s movie and video industry, and that recycling in California accounts for 85,000 jobs and produces $10 billion worth of goods and services annually.
Reuse Assistance Grants
Reuse assistance grants provide incentives to local public agencies to promote and apply the concept of reuse to their business communities. The Board has an annual reuse assistance grant allocation of $250,000. The kinds of projects that have been funded by the Board from a fiscal year 2002-03 joint offering include educational marketing outreach programs for reuse of various materials; creating or updating materials exchanges; establishing food waste donation programs; and designing, planning, constructing, and promoting building materials reuse facilities. The Board funded other projects that divert reusable computers, monitors, etc. for reuse in job training and education programs. Reuse assistance grants also helped establish electronic equipment reuse programs for businesses and residents, which funneled the collected materials to the local nonprofit thrift store network.
The Board anticipates another offering of reuse assistance grants in late summer or early fall of 2004 using fiscal year 2004-05 funds to support the further development of reuse infrastructures at the local level.
Sustainable Building Executive Order
Executive Order D-16-00, the Governor's Sustainable Building Executive Order, established a goal for State agencies to site, design, deconstruct, construct, renovate, operate, and maintain State buildings. The buildings are expected to be models of energy, water, and materials efficiency while providing healthy, productive, and comfortable indoor environments and long-term benefits to Californians. In response to this goal, Building Better Buildings: A Blueprint for Sustainable State Facilities was prepared by the interdisciplinary sustainable building task force to implement the executive order. Originally approved by the Governor’s Office in 2001, the Blueprint was updated in 2003. The Board continues to help implement the order throughout State government offices through various actions.
Sustainable buildings are an environmentally conscientious approach embraced by knowledgeable parties-including the Board-who concede the time is ripe for such architectural innovation. With Board approval in 2003, $400,000 was made available to provide green building contracts and technical assistance to local government and State agencies.
These funds advance sustainable building concepts and products and the incorporation of used and waste tires in building and educational projects throughout the state. Additional funding of $150,000 was made available to a high performance school for the incorporation of waste and used tires into their project during the May tire reallocation.
In 2003 the Board completed the following tasks:
- Released the Board-approved Building Material Emission Study, which compared the performance of many recycled-content products that could be used in State office buildings and schools against similar non-recycled building products currently in use. The study provides evidence that the recycled-content products compare favorably in terms of their impacts on indoor air quality with building products without recycled content.
- Worked with the Collaborative For High Performance Schools (CHPS) to improve the next generation of K-12 schools by incorporating sustainable design. Twenty schools have already incorporated high-performance features. Nine school districts, including four of the largest, have adopted CHPS criteria, accounting for more than 20 percent of all new school construction in the state.
- Conducted training sessions for the Department of General Services (DGS), other State entities, school district officials, and building professionals with more than 1,600 people trained.
- Developed an online sustainable design course based on the above trainings to teach sustainable building basics to a broader audience of building professionals.
- Increased outreach to higher education that resulted in the adoption of sustainable policies as well as the development of an annual conference on Building and Operating Sustainable College and University Campuses.
- Formed a Carpet Working Group to develop environmental standards for carpet procurement that will include minimum recycled-content requirements to comply with the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC).
- The Relocatables Working Group finalized Improving Learning Environments in California Portable Classrooms, and implementation of the recommendations has begun.
Waste Reduction Program
In 2003, the 11th cycle of the Board’s annual Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) recognized 263 eligible businesses and organizations representing more than 2,000 facilities. Winners were announced in September to coincide with Pollution Prevention Week, and the 10 selected “WRAP of the Year” winners, chosen annually from the winners-at-large based on outstanding accomplishments, were announced in November in conjunction with America Recycles Day.
The WRAP program continues to evolve, addressing priorities established in the Board’s 2001 Strategic Plan. Most notable of these is how to move California toward a zero-waste vision. While intent on increasing the number of businesses applying for the program, the 2003 WRAP emphasis focused on enhancing the quality of information secured through the application and recognizing companies that go beyond adopting a recycling program.
The WRAP competition is open to private industry and nonprofit organizations. More than 10,000 WRAP honors have been awarded since the program’s start in 1993. Many companies have won the award multiple times. The annual program expects to begin the open application period of its 12th cycle on April 1, 2004.
State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign
The State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC) was created to implement California law requiring State agencies and the Legislature to purchase products with recycled content. Each year, agencies report their recycled-content purchases to the Board. Reports for fiscal year 2002-03 show $226 million in total reportable purchases, of which $163 million was spent on recycled-content products (RCP). The number of State agencies reporting increased to 90 percent (145 out of 162), compared to 83 percent for fiscal year 2000-01. The increase in total number of agencies reporting can be credited to the Board’s comprehensive SABRC training and outreach efforts. Because of these accomplishments, State agencies are successful in implementing recycled-content product procurement practices within their day-to-day operations.
The Board will continue to increase outreach efforts to State agencies with the dual goals of improving reporting and increasing RCP procurement. Additionally, the Board will look to DGS for an increase in the number of RCPs available on statewide procurement contracts and to improve statewide procurement reporting mechanisms. Other goals include increased use of the recycled-content certification forms and increased SABRC presence in DGS training, outreach, Web site, and promotional activities and publications.
State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign Evaluation
The Board’s contract with Green Seal, an independent nonprofit environmental organization, will provide a general overview of buy recycled programs nationwide. The contractor also compared the California State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC) with similar government efforts, conducted a program evaluation of the SABRC, and identified performance improvement opportunities for the program.
After a nationwide review of buy recycled programs and 39 interviews with 60 individuals, Green Seal found that in many respects the SABRC program compares well with the federal and other State programs. The SABRC program covers a wide range of product categories. It has the force of law and is implemented to some degree. SABRC provides an excellent infrastructure for agencies in terms of training, trade shows, and educational materials. The program has achieved a measurable and not insignificant percentage of purchases by the State in the form of recycled-content products, thus stimulating demand for recycled materials and recycling programs and diverting materials from landfills or other waste management options.
Staff is working to incorporate many suggestions Green Seal made to improve the SABRC, including modifying the RCP database, simplifying the certification and reporting procedures, and increasing the SABRC section’s training and outreach capabilities.
Recycled Product Trade Show
The Fourth Annual Recycled Product Trade Show in 2003 at the Sacramento Convention Center was another huge success. This premiere event continues to attract State agency, local government, and private sector procurement personnel to learn about RCPs. The show attracted more than 100 exhibitors and 2,000 attendees. Many exhibitors indicated that direct sales could be attributed to previous shows. The Board is currently ensuring that the Fifth Annual Recycled Product Trade Show will be another strong show.
Intended to link the power of public agency purchasing programs to RCP suppliers, the trade show can increase RCP procurement and help strengthen markets for secondary materials diverted in California and beyond.
Recycled-Content Product Database
The recycled-content product (RCP) database provides free access to information on thousands of RCPs as well as the manufacturers, distributors, reprocessors, mills, and converters that manufacture or supply them. Companies and their representatives are located around the globe, making this truly an internationally recognized tool.
This year, major modifications were made to the database. In addition to improvements to the organization, taxonomy, and search capabilities, a SABRC-compliant portal was established. Accessing the database through this mechanism provides the user with search results that include only SABRC-compliant products. This tool provides State agencies with products that, when purchased, will count towards fulfillment of the SABRC mandates for RCP procurement. That capability will save time and effort by both the State agencies and the product suppliers, and it will increase sales of SABRC-compliant products by making them more accessible.
Environmentally Preferred Purchasing
In partnership with the Department of General Services (DGS) and other State agency stakeholders, the Board has established a program to provide State agencies with information and assistance regarding environmentally preferred purchasing (EPP). As a member of the multiagency EPP task force, the Board will assist in the development of an EPP best practices manual and training for State purchasing employees.
Implementation of Chapter 575, Statutes of 2002 (AB 498, Chan) requires State agencies to procure goods and services that have a reduced effect on human health and the environment in comparison to competing goods or services that serve the same purpose. Increased emphasis on EPP requires that the Board-DGS partnership evaluate all environmental aspects of the State’s purchasing programs to ensure they are consistent with achieving preferred purchasing goals.
The Board continues to coordinate EPP efforts with other federal, State, and local entities; institutions of higher education; industry; and public health and environmental organizations interested in EPP. These efforts include updating the DGS travel Web site with green lodging information for employees while on State business, the development of a Green Carpet Specification, and an EPP copier paper pilot project.
Rigid Plastic Packaging Containers
The Rigid Plastic Packaging Container (RPPC) law has had a positive effect on the use of postconsumer resins in the production of RPPCs intended for sale in California. As a result of the three compliance certifications the Board has conducted for the calendar years 1996, 1997-99, and 2000, approximately 1,500 product manufacturers have been certified throughout the United States. The requests for compliance certifications resulted in improved awareness of the law and, in most cases, compliance with the law. The Board is preparing to initiate a certification cycle for the year 2001.
In regard to current certification cycles, the majority of product manufacturers were found to be in compliance with the law. Product manufacturers determined to be out of compliance were offered one-year compliance agreements, which required the companies to take specific action to come into compliance and demonstrate at least six months of being in compliance by the end of their one-year agreement.
One hundred forty-four companies entered into compliance agreements for the 1997-1999 certification period and 108 have come into compliance as required by the compliance agreement. Thirty-two companies have had their compliance agreement terminated because they were determined to be not regulated, have a de minimis (negligible) impact on the California waste stream, or because of other technological issues. Staff is negotiating settlement agreements with three companies that did not meet one of the above conditions. For the year 2000 certification, 18 companies achieved compliance, 33 were determined not to be regulated, and 4 were determined to be de minimis.
The companies that came into compliance used more than 300,000 tons of postconsumer resin and reduced total resin usage by 800,000 tons. The Board is in the process of performing audits on companies from both the 1997-1999 and 2000 certification. Additionally, regulations were adopted to establish violations and penalties for those companies not in compliance.
Plastics Market Development
Building on the comprehensive review of plastics and possible policy options contained in the Plastics White Paper, the Board directed staff to focus their efforts on key areas. These areas include increasing the recovery and recycling of agricultural and commercial film plastic, biodegradable plastics, litter prevention, large venue recycling, and other topics. The Board continues to collaborate with representatives from the plastics industry, the environmental community, and others to develop and implement specific action plans as for the key areas. Implementation of these plans is expected to increase the collection and use of recovered plastics and improve California’s environmental quality.
A Report to the Legislature on the Use and Disposal of Polystyrene in California pursuant to Chapter 406, Statutes of 2001 (SB 1127, Karnette) looking at issues and making recommendations specific to polystyrene products is also being developed.
Plastic Trash Bags
Every manufacturer of plastic trash bags sold in California is required to certify to the Board that the bags contain at least 10 percent postconsumer resin. An exemption can be granted if the Board concurs that an insufficient quantity of postconsumer material is unavailable. Wholesalers are required to certify the purchase and sale of trash bags. Manufacturers and wholesalers who do not comply with the postconsumer use and reporting requirements are prohibited from contracting with the State agencies for the delivery of goods and services.
For the 2002 reporting period, 4 of 55 manufacturers failed to achieve compliance with the law. All of the wholesalers were able to certify compliance.
For the 2003 reporting period, certification forms were mailed to more than 400 plastic trash bag manufacturers and wholesalers. The Board is in the process of reviewing the 2003 certifications and will post a list of compliant and noncompliant companies on its Web site by July 2004.
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