Office of Public Affairs
For Immediate Release: February 20, 2018
News Release #2018-05
Media Contact: Lance Klug
SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has approved nearly $4 million in new Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) loans for businesses to help increase carpet and paper recycling in the state. The local business investments in Los Angeles and Placer counties are expected to create at least 35 new jobs and divert an additional 17,000 tons of carpet and paper from California landfills each year.
“For the past 25 years, CalRecycle’s RMDZ loan program has been an important tool to help California develop more recycling infrastructure in our state,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said. “Supporting these types of private infrastructure investments help insulate California from global market fluctuations—like we currently see as a result of China’s National Sword policy—while making progress toward achieving the state’s greenhouse gas reduction and 75 percent recycling goals.”
CalRecycle’s RMDZ program provides loans, technical assistance, and free product marketing to businesses that use materials from the waste stream to manufacture their products. Businesses must be located within one of California’s 39 Recycling Market Development Zones. The following RMDZ loan projects are the first to receive funding in 2018.
first
Recipient: Princess Paper, Inc.
RMDZ: Los Angeles County
Amount: $1.925M
Project Description:
Purchase and install new equipment to expand a recycled paper manufacturing facility in Vernon.
The facility produces facial tissue, napkins, bathroom tissue, and similar products from recycled paper.
New diversion estimates: 2,200 tons per year (24 percent increase)
New job estimates: Possible in future as sales increase
This project supports the expansion of California’s organics recycling infrastructure, which the state must roughly double to comply with the organic waste disposal reduction targets mandated by SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016).
Recipient: Circular Polymers LLC
RMDZ: Placer County
Amount: $2M
Project Description:
Purchase and install new equipment to expand recycled carpet processing capacity at a facility in Lincoln.
The facility separates waste carpet by fiber type, cuts or shreds it into smaller sizes, then deconstructs it to produce nylon fiber, PET plastic, polypropylene,
and calcium carbonate residuals. Residuals are then sold to subsequent manufacturers.
New diversion estimates: 14,716 tons per year (91 percent increase)
New job estimates: 35
This project supports the expansion of California’s organics recycling infrastructure, which the state must roughly double to comply with the organic waste disposal reduction targets mandated by SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016).
About CalRecycle’s RMDZ Program and Other Benefits for Businesses
CalRecycle provides financial and technical assistance to help reuse/recycling-based businesses develop and prosper in California; creating more jobs, reducing waste, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Since the first RMDZ loans were granted in 1993, the RMDZ program has provided $145 million in financing to more than 200 California businesses to keep valuable material out of landfills and support in-state markets for recyclable material. Collection of outstanding RMDZ loan principal and interest assists to fund new loans.
To create a new Recycling Market Development Zone, cities, counties, or a coalition of regional governments must:
- Submit completed materials, including application, CEQA documents, letters of support, and resolutions from the lead and participating agencies.
- Commit to provide resources and business incentives to complement those offered by CalRecycle.
- Local government incentives vary by jurisdiction but may include relaxed zoning laws, streamlined local permitting processes, and reduced taxes and licensing fees.
CalRecycle also assists businesses by helping them locate recycled manufacturing materials; by making permitting referrals; by providing them with demographic, waste stream, and economic analytics; and by marketing their products on the RecycleStore.
For more information contact, the Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov
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CalRecycle's mission is to protect California's environment and climate for the health and prosperity of future generations through the reduction, reuse and recycling of California resources, environmental education, disaster recovery, and the transition from a disposable to a fully circular economy.