Local Government Central—Rural Issues

Rural Market Development Resources

Market development activities can help rural jurisdictions build a nucleus of creativity and business skills resulting in new end uses for previously discarded materials, in job creation, and even in greater leverage in the marketplace of recycled commodities.

Rural Marketing Cooperatives

One way to increase the power of rural jurisdictions in the recycling marketplace is to join together to form marketing cooperatives.

In 1999, the Board contracted with Del Norte County to develop and implement a model project with neighboring Humboldt County to develop markets and infrastructure for waste reduction and recycling by establishing long-term cooperative programs among the two counties, as well as their respective groups of  recycling collectors, processors, end-users, purchasing agents, and others. The Board intended the plan to be a model for other rural jurisdictions.

For more information on rural cooperative recycling, please visit the Environmental Services Joint Powers Authority, a local government agency comprised of 21 rural member counties.

The Board's Local Government Library also has documents about rural marketing cooperatives.

Rural Market Development

Business Incubators: Business incubators help young businesses minimize risk and increase the odds of success by allowing them to pool resources with other similar businesses, by offering easier access to finance, business and technical advice, as well as by creating a support community comprised of other entrepreneurs.

The Board helped to fund the development of a business incubator in Humboldt County. Some of the products developed in this incubator are available online through the RecycleStore.

• Overview of business incubators by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
• National Business Incubation Association
• CORDIS database of European Business Incubators
• New Jersey's Innovation Garden
• Australia/New Zealand Association of Business Incubators

Recycling Market Development Zones (RMDZ): These partnerships between local governments and the California Integrated Waste Management Board provide incentives to businesses that use secondary materials from the waste stream as feedstock for their manufacturing processes.

Other CIWMB market development resources.

Last updated: January 09, 2008