Resource Recovery Parks

Challenges, Opportunities, and Tips

Local Government Challenges and Opportunities

Resource recovery parks are a new challenge and opportunity to dramatically expand reuse, recycling, and composting businesses. Local governments are in a unique position to make these happen.

Because RR parks are new to communities, they require stakeholder involvement, including:

• Local reuse, recycling, and composting businesses.
• Local waste haulers.
• Local businesses (e.g., realtors, lending institutions, manufacturers).
• Multiple city agencies (e.g., public works, planning, redevelopment/economic development).
• County solid waste agencies.
• State and federal solid waste agencies.

Local governments can play a key role in convening all these stakeholders. They can point out challenges and opportunities and identify how best to proceed in your local area.

RR parks are emerging in small rural counties like Del Norte (population 30,000) as well as in major metropolitan areas. RR parks combine unique waste reduction and recycling concepts-such as recycling market development zones-with traditional industrial park development skills.

Until private developers understand the workings of RR parks and how to operate them, local governments will most likely be the catalysts for creating new parks. There are quite a few skills and resources that local governments can also bring to bear, as noted above. With their skills, resources, and leadership, municipalities can promote the RR park and mobilize stakeholders in working towards a common vision.

Tips for Replication

• Convene local stakeholders to educate and explore local options.
• Identify existing reuse, recycling, and composting businesses that would like to expand.
• Perform an analysis to identify wastes that need to be managed differently. This would show development potential of enterprises that reuse, recycle, or compost these wastes.
• Identify local resources available and adopt policies in support of this vision of an RR park.
• Contact others who have developed such facilities and learn how they approached the task.
• Target realistic steps for your program, budget for them and make sure they are accomplished.

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Last updated: October 26, 2007