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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