United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA530-F-98-005
September 1998
www.epa.gov/jtr
JTR Grantee Series
Delaware
JOBS
THROUGH
RECYCLING
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Jobs Through Recycling
(JTR) grant awarded to the state of Delaware in 1994 was the beginning of a
new era for environmental programs in the state. Prior to receiving the JTR
grant, Delaware did not have resources to promote recycling markets or indi-
vidually assist businesses in manufacturing products from recycled materials. Despite the
signing of a statewide executive order in July 1990 recommending recycling as a means
of reducing waste materials and mandating the
establishment of a comprehensive recycling pro-
gram, the state did not set measurable goals until
it received the JTR grant.
At the outset, the Delaware Recycling Economic
Development Advocate (REDA) established the
following goals:
• Double the number of Green Industries
Initiative (Gil) businesses statewide.
Gkiftce
Types REDA
Office Avuarctect
Delaware Economic
Development Office
• Create 125 new jobs.
• Facilitate the investment of $5 million in
recycling capital.
• Gain a statewide consensus on recycling
market development.
Under the JTR grant, the REDA expanded the
state's Gil to retain and create more than 150
quality jobs, generated capital investments for
recycling-based businesses worth over $10 million,
and increased business participation from 7 to 24
approved applicants.
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
The Delaware REDA provided assistance to busi-
ness in the following two primary areas:
Technical and Financial Assistance
Established prior to the JTR grant, Gil embod-
ied the first real attempt to promote recycling-
related industry in Delaware. Begun as a coopera-
tive effort between the Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC)
and the Delaware Economic Development Office
(DEDO) in 1992, Gil was strengthened through
the 1994 JTR grant.
PrqfedtP*
Delaware Department of
Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
Year Awarded: 1994
Fu-Efincp
$74,000 in EPA funding
$25,000 in state funding
$99,000 in total funding
Materials Targeted:
Organics and Compost
Waste Tires
Plastics
Evadne Giannini
Delaware Economic
Development Office
99 Kings Highway
Dover, DE 19901-7305
Phone: 302 739-4271
Fax: 302 739-5749
E-mail: egiannini@state.de.us
Web site: www.state.de.us/
dedo
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OBS THROUGH RECYCLING
The technical and financial assistance
provided by the grant fostered recycling
markets and promoted the further
establishment of Gil businesses.
Gil requires businesses to demonstrate
a serious commitment to recycling and
environmental issues in exchange for
technical and financial assistance.
Businesses provide information to the
REDA on what efforts are being made
to increase recycling, including adding
recycled-content feedstock to a manu-
facturing process or opening a recy-
clable commodity processing facility.
Through Gil, the REDA provided
technical assistance including siting,
employee training, expedited environ-
mental permitting, and marketing assis-
tance. In addition, the REDA provided
assistance in obtaining tax abatement
and credits, loans, and financing. The
REDA assisted scrap tire processor
Magnus Environmental, for example,
with siting, locating feedstock, and per-
mitting. As a result, Magnus added 21
full-time employees to its staff. That
facility also helped alleviate stockpiles
of waste tires throughout the state.
The REDA believes that
outreach changed
industry's perception of
the state and enhanced
the profit-making
capability of the
recycling industry.
In addition to recycling market devel-
opment information, the REDA assist-
ed businesses with equipment, sourc-
ing, and commodity information and,
thus, became Delaware's designated
state recycling expert.
Promotion and Publicity
The REDA promoted available recy-
clable commodities to businesses that
could use them in their manufacturing
processes. In addition, the REDA
helped develop all facets of the recy-
cling business (i.e., collection, process-
ing, and marketing). The REDA's abili-
ty to network with state businesses and
create new alliances allowed a building
of trust that facilitated significant gains
in recycling market development
statewide.
CHALLENGES OVERCOME
• Strained public and private relation-
ships. Prior to the grant, Delaware
business and industry organizations
had difficulty finding reliable infor-
mation on recycling issues. Slow
response to that issue by the state left
strained relations between the public
and private sectors. The REDA
addressed the issue by offering tech-
nical assistance to businesses request-
ing information. The REDA believes
that outreach changed industry's per-
ception of the state and enhanced
the profit-making capability of the
recycling industry.
• Lack of tracking tools. Once at the
Economic Development Office, the
REDA had no means of tracking
recycling efforts electronically. The
REDA understood, however, the
need to keep track of assistance and
core measures and kept a diary of
contacts and activity to help track
assistance and followup. The con-
tact diary formed the basis of the
networking database the REDA
now uses to gather the data neces-
sary (e.g., jobs, investment, arid
recovery rates) to measure success.
Partners
The REDA partnered with the fol-
lowing organizations to promote
economic development opportuni-
ties with recycling:
• DNREC—DNREC was the
grantee's primary program partner,
providing permitting support for
Gil businesses and prospects. The
REDA worked with several sec-
tions of DNREC, including solid
waste, air quality, and wetlands, to
find recycling options or markets
for waste materials. Successful
cooperative efforts ranged from
permitting to identifying compost
supplies for wetlands mitigation
projects implemented due to road
projects in the state.
• University of Delaware (UD)
Extension—UD Extension worked
with the grantee on the creation of
the Composting Association of
Delaware (CAD). CAD is dedicat-
ed to promoting composting in
Delaware and is composed of 35
active organizations representing
commercial, municipal, university,
and other interests.
• Delaware Manufacturing
Alliance (DMA)—DMA worked
with the REDA to promote recy-
cling options for manufacturers in
Delaware. The REDA developed
business waste assessment pro-
gramming for DMA members
using EPA WasteWise program
materials. The REDA also worked
with DMA to find answers to a
pallet waste issue that plagued
Delaware manufacturers. Waste
reduction opportunities included
pallet repair and reuse as well as
composting of scrap pallets.
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JTR GRANTEE SERIES: DELAWARE
LESSONS LEARNED
• Find your network. It is important
to expand business and industry
contact networks to ensure successful
recycling economic development
programs. Networks can educate,
generate leads, and set up potential
outreach opportunities.
• Position the recycling industry as a
legitimate enterprise. The needs of
the recycling industry must be taken
seriously by the state. The REDA's
approach was to "only talk about
commodities, not solid waste." This
approach put the REDA in a better
position (by avoiding the use of the
terms "trash" or "waste"), because of
the emphasis on the value of recy-
clable materials and recycling's viabil-
ity for Delaware industries.
Networks can educate,
generate leads, and set
up potential outreach
opportunities.
I Gather and maintain quality
data. Accurate assessment of
recyclable commodity ton-
nages within the state is
essential for the recruit-
ment of new businesses.
Without accurate avail-
able feedstock informa-
tion, new prospects
cannot assess actual
market status and
opportunities. Prospects are more
likely to invest in recycling opportu-
nities within a state that maintains
accurate information.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The REDA believes that the institu-
tionalizatiori of Gil was the greatest
accomplishment of the 1994 JTR
grant. In addition, the REDA notes
two major environmental benefits dur-
ing the 1994 grant period. First, help-
ing site a processing facility for waste
tires addressed the nagging problem of
tire stockpiles, which had caused tire
fires in the past. Second, increasing
recyclable materials diversion from
Delaware landfills benefited the state by
extending landfill life and promoting
more efficient use of resources.
PROGRAM FUTURE
The REDA's position received state
funding in June 1996. The position is
now being sustained within the
Economic Development Office, which
continues to advocate the Green
Industries Initiative and recycling mar-
ket development. The REDA now plans
to search for another niche in which to
develop quantifiable results. With state
backing assured, the REDA will contin-
ue to prove the importance of recycling
market development in Delaware.
Prospects are more likely to
invest in recycling
opportunities within a state
that maintains accurate
information.
Delaware also received a 1997 JTR
grant from EPA. Several major activities
are planned under the new grant includ-
ing development of a recycled commod-
ity resource information system, market
development efforts for construction
and demolition waste material, and a
plastics conversion project.
Full-Time Equivalents Created:
Part-Time Jobs Created:
Amount of Capital Invested:
Volume of New Capacity Created:
Paper
Plastics
Wood
Tires
Total:
Weight of Waste Diverted From Disposal:
Short-Term Assistance
In-Depth Assistance
154 jobs
4Ojobs
$1(X1 nrillicnin new
capital investment
SO^OOOtons per year
1QOOO tons per year
15,000 tons per year
SQOOOtons per year
1O5,OOO tons per year
228,508 tons per year
68 businesses assisted
15 businesses assisted
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JOBS THROUGH RECYCLING
CHRYSLER
CORPORATION
CHRYSLER CORPORATION, NEWARK
ASSEMBLY PLANT
Chrysler Corporation manufactures automobiles at its Newark, Delaware, assembly
plant. Gary Eberhard, Solid Waste Specialist for Chrysler, began coordinating the
waste management effort at the Newark plant in 1990. At that time, Chrysler was
spending $1.2 million annually for disposal of waste materials. Within the first year,
Chrysler saved $800,000. In 1997, Chrysler spent only $240,000 on disposal charges.
The Delaware REDA assisted Chrysler in the following ways:
• Finding Wooden Pallet Markets and Durable Pallet Manufacturers. The REDA worked to find
reuse, recycling, and durable pallet options. Prior to the REDA's assistance, Chrysler disposed of
3,000 pallets daily. The REDA helped trim that number down to 900 outsourced for repair and
reuse. The REDA found Chrysler a pallet refurbisher, which now receives 33 tons of pallets daily
from Chrysler. The exchange created two new jobs at the pallet processing facility.
• Finding Tire Disposal Alternatives. One notable waste reduction effort transforms waste tires
into a commodity. Six hundred tires per year are sent to a tire reprocessing facility.
"The REDA is an
important part of
Chrysler's efforts to find
markets for recyclable
commodities."
GARY EBERHARD
Solid Waste Specialist,
Chrysler Corporation,
Newark Assembly Plant
CONTACT
Gary Eberhard
Solid Waste Specialist
Chrysler Corporation
550 South College Avenue
RO. Box 6040
Newark, DE19714
Phone: 302 453-5251
Fax: 302 453-5122
alist
e
FIRST STATE RECYCLING
F
irst State Recycling is a processor arid broker of preconsurner plastics and other
materials including film and corrugated containers. The REDA assisted First
State with the following two major tasks:
"The financing assistance the
REDA helped us find was cru-
cially important to our decision
to locate in Delaware."
RICHARD BASTIAN
President, First Stale Recycling
Siting and Funding. The REDA met two entrepreneurs interested in starting a recycling business
in New Jersey or Delaware in 1995. The REDA helped them apply for the Gil and secure a state
subsidized loan of $65,000, which provided important startup capital. The REDA also worked
with the entrepreneurs in finding their first location and working out the details to make their
startup relatively smooth.
Markets and Promotion. The REDA assisted First State in expanding its base of markets by net-
working the company with the REDA's in-state contacts. The REDA also helped promote the
company in the state business journal.
CONTACT
Richard M. Bastian
President
First State Recycling
36 Germany Drive
Wilmington, DE 19804
Phone:302777-1177
Fax:302777-1166
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