United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5306)
EPA530-F-94-026
September 1994
&EPA
Jobs Through
Recycling Initiative
Across America, more individuals, organizations, businesses, and
governments are collecting materials for recycling than ever before.
In fact, the number of curbside recycling programs has increased
500 percent over the past five years, to over 6,600 nationwide!
Existing and new businesses can put these valuable resources to
work producing new recycled products.
In addition to diverting materials from landfills, these recycling
businesses also create employment opportunities. Recycling is
estimated to create nearly five times as many jobs as landfilling.
To support the growth of recycling businesses and to stimulate job
creation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
launched its Jobs Through Recycling Initiative..
What Is the Goal of
the Initiative?
Jobs Through Recycling fosters
businesses that:
• Put to productive use recovered
materials that would otherwise
be.landfilled or incinerated.
. • Employ innovative technologies to
use recovered materials collected in
recycling programs.
• Stimulate economic growth and
create jobs.
How Are Jobs
Being Created?
EPA is supporting state, tribal, and
national efforts to provide technical,
financial, and other assistance to
businesses that process and use
recovered materials. Growth in these
recycling businesses creates new jobs,
ranging from low-and semi-skilled jobs
in material sorting and processing, to
skilled jobs in the manufacturing
sector and related fields. Recycling
research and development efforts create
jobs for engineers and chemists. Build-
ing new processing and manufacturing
plants creates jobs for construction
workers, equipment suppliers, trans-
portation companies, planners, and
consultants. Urban areas, especially,
have large supplies of recovered mate-
rials, an available labor force, and
underutilized buildings that can be
used to address unemployment and
solid waste problems simultaneously.
How Are Recycling
Businesses Being Fostered?
The Jobs Through Recycling Initiative
is helping states and Native American
Tribes to provide technical and business
assistance to recycling enterprises. EPA
is funding selected states and tribes to
establish Recycling and Reuse Business
Assistance Centers (RBACs) and
Recycling Economic Development
Advocate (REDA) positions. The
initiative also will create a recycling
technology information network to aid
recycling businesses.
Recycled/Recyclable
Printed with Soy/Canola Ink on paper that
contains at least 50% post-consumer recycled fiber
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Recycling and Reuse Business
Assistance Centers
EPA is funding the states of California, Minnesota,
New York, and North Carolina to establish Recycling
and Reuse Business Assistance Centers (RBACs). Each
center provides a unique mix of technical, business,
financing, and marketing assistance to existing and
new recycling enterprises.
California's RBAC - Integrated Waste
Management Board
In partnership with California's Trade and
Commerce Agency Business Environmental
Center, 30 Small Business Development Centers,
and 40 Recycling Market Development Zones,
the state's Integrated Waste Management Board
will provide one-stop financing, process
engineering, technical, and regulatory
assistance to recycling businesses.
New York's RBAC - Department of
Economic Development
New York's Department of Economic
Development will work with a local community
development corporation to initiate public-private
joint ventures to implement paper recovery
programs, reduce the disposal burden associated
with recycled paper mill sludges, develop wood
reclamation and recycling facilities, assist
businesses in source separating and marketing
selected materials, initiate research and
development to advance recycling of durable
plastics, and build a more efficient postconsumer
plastics infrastructure within the state.
North Carolina's RBAC - Department
of Environment, Health, and
Natural Resources
In North Carolina, the state's Department of
Environment, Health, and Natural Resources will
work with the state Department of Commerce to
provide technical assistance to recycling busi-
nesses and manufacturers in using recovered
materials. It will also provide training to foster
understanding and communication between
the recycling and economic development
communities, and expand existing capacity for
recyclable and reusable materials through a
demonstration project targeting difficult-to-
market commodities.
0
States and tribes with RBACs /\ and REDAs
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Minnesota's RBAC - Office of
Environmental Assistance
Minnesota's Office of Environmental Assistance
will partner with the state's Department of Trade
and Economic Development and Technology
Extension Center to remove barriers to increased
use of recovered materials in the wood fiber,
plastics, and composites industries.
Recycling Economic
Development Advocate
The initiative is also funding a Recycling Economic
The Recycling Technology Assistance
Partnership's National Network
The Jobs Through Recycling Initiative is supporting
the development of a national information network
to facilitate the sharing of innovative recycling
technologies and other technical information. EPA
is partnering with the National Recycling Coalition
and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), within the Department of
Commerce, to establish and operate this national
network as part of NIST's Recycling Technology
Assistance Partnership (ReTAP). The recycling
information network will include an easily accessible
Development Advocate (REDA) in nine states and
one tribe. The REDA is a business development
professional with a recycling background. Located in
the state or tribal economic development office, each
REDA will focus on recycling market development as
a job creation and economic development strategy. To
assist new and existing recycling businesses, RED AS
also will provide coordination among their offices,
solid waste programs, manufacturing extension ser-
vices, and other business development efforts within
the state or tribe. ;;:', %
Each of the following states and tribe is hosting
a REDA:
Arizona—Department of Commerce ,
Delaware—Development Office "' ,
District of Columbia—Office of Economic
Development
Iowa—Department of Economic and
Employment Development
Maryland—Department of Economic Development
Nebraska—Department of Economic Development
Ohio—Department of Development
Oklahoma—Department of Commerce
Oregon—Economic Development Department
Siletz Tribe (Oregon)—Economic
Development Office
database on recycled materials use practices, new
technological developments, and innovative '
applications for recovered materials.
Through the network, EPA wil^ identify barriers to
the use of recovereld materials and develop an
agenda to find solutions through government,
industry, and university research programs. The
National Network will be a valuable information
resource, fco; manufacturers, businesses; innovators,
and entrepreneurs. It will be linked electronically
to NIST's network of manufacturing extension
centers. NIST will develop 100 of these centers
across the nation by 1997 to help small and
mid-size manufacturers become more competitive.
The engineers in the NIST centers will have the
information necessary to identify opportunities for
manufacturers to use recovered materials in place
of virgin materials. Use of recovered materials can
make a manufacturer more efficient and therefore
more competitive, and strengthens markets for
these materials.
For Additional Information
The RBACs and REDAs will begin operating in
October 1994. For additional information on this
initiative, contact your EPA Regional Office. For
information of ReTAP's National Network contact
the National Recycling Coalition at 202 625-6406.
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EPA Regional Office Contacts for the Jobs Through Recycling Initiative
EPA Region 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, RIVT)
JFK Federal Building
(HER-CAN6)
Boston, MA 02203-2211
Cynthia Greene
617223-5531
EPA Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI)
26 Federal Plaza
(II-AWN)
New York, NY 10278
Jenine Tankoos
212 264-1369
EPA Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV)
841 Chestnut Street
(3HW53)
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Theresa Martella
215 597-7936
EPA Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)
345 Courtland Street, NE.
(4WD-RCRAFF)
Atlanta, G A 30365
Robin Mitchell
404347-3555X6425
EPA Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)
77 West Jackson Boulevard
(HRP-8J)
Chicago, IL 60604
Paul Ruesch
312 886-7598
EPA Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200
(68-HH)
Dallas, TX 75202-2733
Ed Curran
214 655-6723
EPA Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE)
726 Minnesota
(RCRA-SPG)
Kansas City, KS 66101
Dave Flora
913 551-7523 ";-.-.•.,-,.:;:.•
EPA Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, tJT, WY)
999 18th Street
(8HWM-RI)
Denver, CO 80202-2405
Ayn Schmit
303 293-1845
EPA Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV)
75 Hawthorne Street
(H-3-1)
San Francisco, CA 94105
Kivi Leroux-Durican
415744r2080 ~
EPA Region 10 (ID, OR, WA, AK)
1200 6th Avenue
(HW-107)
Seattle, WA 98101
John Dumas
206553-6522
EPA Headquarters
401 M Street, SW (5306)
Washington, DC 20460
Tim Jones
202 260-7920
Kim Carr
202 260-7600
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