Electronics Recycler Receives Grant

An electronics recycling company in Arizona recently received a grant of $25,000 to grow its business in Yuma, Ariz.

RMD Recycling Inc., headquartered in San Diego, opened a demanufacturing and scrapping facility in Yuma this summer. To grow its business, the company has sought to receive a grant from the city of Yuma. According to Rob Spence with RMD Recycling, the city awarded the company the grant Nov. 6.

Spence said the company hopes to use the grant money to relocate their Yuma operations to a larger, permanent facility.

According to local press reports, in return for getting the money up front, RMD would agree to:

*Hire 60 employees in 2003.

*Increase employment from 60 to 135 during the next three years.

*Have a minimum employee wage rate of $10.60 an hour.

*Provide full medical benefit coverage for employees and make family coverage available at a group rate.

The company is also asking for contracts with the city to perform plastics and electronics recycling and to sell the city products manufactured from recycled plastics, the staff report said. However, these contracts haven't been negotiated and aren't part of the economic incentive request.

Spence says that the material coming into the facility comes primarily from the San Diego area. The facility takes in “anything with a circuit board,” Spence says. The company also is taking in computer monitors and other electronics equipment.

Along with demanufacturing and selling off some of the circuit board and selling scrap metal to recyclers, the company is looking to get more involved in processing the plastics that are left after scrapping out the other materials. The company also is looking at the possibility of adding a crusher for the monitors.