CIWMB Renews Oakland Recycling Market Development Zone

The California Integrated Waste Management Board unanimously voted to renew the Oakland/Berkeley Recycling Market Development Zone for an additional 10 years. With the renewal, the zone will continue promoting job creation and economic development.

"Renewing the Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ is a reaffirmation of our commitment to growth and economic development for recycling-based businesses in the Bay Area," said Linda Moulton-Patterson, board chair. "Manufacturers, processors, and other business enterprises are contributing to a stronger economy and a healthier environment. Conserving resources and reclaiming valuable materials like wood, glass, and other products benefits everyone and we applaud the successes of the companies working in this productive RMDZ."

Recycling-based businesses and manufacturers currently located in the Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ—or those interested in becoming established within the area—are eligible for assistance that is administered locally by the Oakland Economic Development Division.

About 10 percent of the industrial parcels in the zone are within the City of Berkeley, and Berkeley helps fund the RMDZ with a combination of financial contributions and in-kind resources, including direct assistance as part of that city’s Environmental Economy Initiative. The Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ is one of 40 such zones designated throughout California 10 years ago by the Board—the state’s primary recycling agency and a part of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Since 1993 when the Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ was established, the RMDZ has provided significant, direct technical and financial assistance to more than 300 businesses. The support and assistance to these companies has resulted in the creation of 167 jobs and 13 new or expanded businesses, as well as diversion of 215,350 tons of materials annually for recycling and reuse.

Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ staff are currently working with approximately 30 local recycling and reuse enterprises, including firms dealing with mattresses and box springs; electronics; concrete and asphalt; wood deconstruction and mill work; and glass recycling for custom countertops, to name a few. The zone staff have also assisted businesses with access to grants from the Alameda County Recycling Board (and other sources), tax incentives through Oakland’s Enterprise Zone, as well as 17 local loans from Alameda County’s Recycling Revolving Loan Fund, which was established in 1996 and is unique to the Oakland/Berkeley zone.

In addition, over the last 10 years, the Integrated Waste Management Board has made more than $2.5 million in low-interest-rate State loans to seven local recycling-based businesses. Those companies have been responsible for 75 percent of the materials diverted from landfills among local businesses served by the Oakland/Berkeley RMDZ. Examples of local businesses that have benefited from the technical and/or financial assistance provided by the RMDZ program include:

Pacific Steel Casting Company—Approximately 8,000 tons per year of casting sand that was formerly landfilled, are now reclaimed for reuse by the foundry, which received a $684,950 RMDZ loan in 1996 for machinery and equipment.

St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Inc.—A $250,000 RMDZ loan in 2000 helped this nonprofit launch a mattress and box spring recycling program in 2000, providing eight new jobs and diverting an estimated 2,208 tons of materials per year. The facility accepts mattresses from throughout the greater Bay Area and is one of only a few such recyclers in the nation.

Specialty Crushing, Inc.—RMDZ staff played a critical role in obtaining a site for this concrete and asphalt recycling operation in mid-2000, which allowed the company to divert over 400,000 tons of these materials from landfill over the past three years. More recently, Specialty Crushing has worked with the RMDZ and Oakland Public Works staff to develop an innovative, high-recycled-content concrete mix called Envirocrete, which offers a lower-cost, sustainable option for nonstructural applications such as sidewalks, curbs, and gutters. (Web site in development, for information please call (510) 986-0964.)

Counter/Production—The company received a $170,000 loan, packaged by RMDZ staff, to acquire new equipment and provide working capital for expansion to larger quarters. Counter/Production makes custom countertops and tables employing various colors and textures of glass, diverting that material from landfills and providing an attractive alternative to mined rocks such as marble and granite.

Incentives available to recycling-based businesses, industries, and manufacturers through the RMDZ foster sustainable economic growth and help increase the amount of materials being diverted from the local waste stream, a mandate of the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 that requires cities and counties to keep 50 percent of their waste out of landfills beginning in 2000.