75% Recycling Rate Could Create 110,000 Jobs in California

California’s goal of achieving a 75% recycling rate by 2020 could create over 110,000 jobs, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Back in 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 341, which mandates that “75 percent of solid waste generated be source reduced, recycled, or composted by the year 2020.” The NRDC, an international not-for-profit environmental organisation, said in its latest report that the state will need to recycle an additional 23 million tons (20.9 million tonnes) of waste in 2020 to meet its goal, presenting a significant opportunity for the state to revitalise its economy with green jobs. The NRDC report, From Waste to Jobs: What Achieving 75 Percent Recycling Means for California, outlined the potential to increase recycling rates for each material in California’s waste stream and the resulting job growth that would accompany that growth. Currently, the organisation said that around 50% of California’s waste is reduced, recycled or composted. The rest winds up in landfills or is incinerated. The NRDC also noted that the amount of total waste in the state is steadily increasing. In 2010, California's waste stream was 72.8 million tons (66 million tonnes). The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) estimates that by 2020 the state will produce 80 million tons (72.6 million tonnes) of waste annually. According to the NRDC, achieving the 75% goal will require the construction of new recycling facilities to process the increase in recycled materials, bringing with it new employment opportunities. “California is already a leader when it comes to recycling, yet there is still so much opportunity to ensure this economic resource isn’t going to waste,” commented Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist for NRDC. “By recovering materials such as plastic, paper and metals, we can capture their value and grow a new labour-intensive industry,” he added. The importance of plastics The report claimed that improved recycling of plastic is especially important, both in terms of jobs and the environmental benefits. According to the authors, 29,000 new jobs would be created from plastic recycling alone, and recycling this plastic can help reduce the amount of the material that ends up in rivers, beaches, and oceans. “Plastic pollution places a huge burden on our ocean and coastal communities. It kills marine life and harms local beach economies,” said Leila Monroe, an NRDC senior attorney. Key Findings: Overall, reaching the goal of a 75% recycling rate by 2020 in California would create at least 110,000 new recycling jobs, and could create an additional 38,600 jobs in related industries, such as equipment suppliers Of those 110,000 jobs, more than 34,000 would be in materials collection, 26,000 in materials processing, and 50,000 in manufacturing using the recovered materials Plastic and aluminium recycling have the greatest potential to create jobs, with 29,000 jobs resulting from a 75% plastic recycling rate. Landfilling and incineration generate the fewest jobs per ton of waste In order to keep these jobs in California, the state will need to provide economic incentives and build new facilities to ramp up recycling capacity. The NRDC commissioned Tellus Institute, a research and policy group, to create the analysis based on its earlier report, ‘More Jobs, Less Pollution,” which analysed the economic and environmental benefits of increasing the national recycling rate to 75%. For more facts and figures click on the infographic above. Read More Solar Composting A Bright Idea? Composting can solve many environmental problems, but facilities also pose daunting questions for environmental regulators. Concerns about odours and air emissions, water runoff from feedstocks and active piles, and diesel equipment use on site not only create environmental trade-offs for the operation, they weigh heavily on the bottom line. Could solar power be the answer to these challenges? A site in California believes so. By Robert Horowitz, supervisor of organics management and construction & demolition unit at California Department of Resources, Recycling & Recovery (CalRecycle). LA Landfill Beyond Waste Even with the closure of Puente Hills Landfill the market is over saturated with capacity and is extremely competitive. Southern California has two billion cubic yards of remaining state permitted disposal capacity that could easily last the next 100 years at current disposal rate. But is the state's landfill too plentiful and too cheap? By Evan Edgar. VIDEO: Mattress Recycling Bill in California A bill by Senator Loni Hancock to create the first recovery and recycling program for end-of-life mattresses in the U.S. has passed the State Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously on a vote of 6-0.