by Blain Bibb

As Chair of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce’s Green Team San Joaquin program, I have the pleasure of helping businesses reduce their costs of doing business through environmental stewardship. Through energy efficiencies, green cleaning, water conservation and recycling, businesses can actually profit and help the environment at the same time. 

At a recent Green Team meeting, we had a presentation on the proposed Mandatory Commercial Recycling (MCR) Regulation that was in front of the California Air Resources Board and then rolled into Assembly Bill 341 and signed into law by Governor Brown on October 6, 2011. The law would divert  millions of tons of material from the landfill, thus reducing Green House Gas emissions. That sounds like a positive initiative until one asks: “divert to where?”  

Currently, the majority of the recyclable materials collected in California are shipped to other parts of the United States or to global markets; only about 5-20 percent remain in the State for remanufacturing. In other words, 80-95 percent of our recyclable materials are leaving California, specifically to overseas markets. So too, are our jobs, tax revenue and commerce. 

Pondering these statistics leads to quite a rude awakening: eight out of ten pieces of recyclables we place on our curb are being shipped to China or other offshore markets for product remanufacturing powered primarily by coal, which is a huge Green House Gas (GHG) emitter.

Is the Chamber the only one to find it very ironic that the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) has commissioned a study to verify that much of that pollution is finding its way back to the shores of California in the prevailing winds of the jet stream? Meanwhile, many of our neighbors are losing their jobs and foreclosing on their homes.

In light of these important underlying facts, the State’s initiative to “divert” 3 million additional tons of recyclables to reduce GHGs sounds like a classic “do as I say, not as I do” scenario, or out of sight, out of mind, or “kick the PET bottle across the ocean.” What are we really going to accomplish? A new approach is needed.

Lynn France, Board Member for the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC), observes that “we are concerned that we have passed a product stewardship law for carpet, but the carpet manufacturers tell us they will be building their facilities in Reno rather than California. Why should California laws be job creation laws for Nevada? Why should these recyclables be exported somewhere else and remanufactured under greater GHG emission scenarios. We need to look at the GHG impacts from the lifecycle perspective and we have to answer the question, is ‘diversion’ enough or can we further maximize GHG reductions and improve the California economy at the same time?”

The Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce is the only chamber in the state to administer one of the 35 Recycling Market Development Zones (RMDZ) in the State of California which jointly comprise the California Association of Recycling Market Development Zones (CARMDZ). Working together, the Chamber, CARDMZ and the CPSC have begun a proactive campaign to change the “collect and export” paradigm, to not just divert, but to convert our materials into manufacturing jobs throughout California.

Using the additional tonnage which will become available through AB 341 as a springboard, the Recycling BIN (Build Infrastructure Now) Coalition, comprised of economic development, local government, business and environmental organizations working in tandem was formed for one common reason – to create recycled content value-added manufacturing jobs in California. The BIN Coalition recently held a statewide Summit attended by 240 individuals (accessible via YouTube: Recycling BIN Summit) to emphasize the need for a concurrent action by all concerned. 

As Steve Lautze, President of the CARMDZ states, "California environmental legislation like AB 32 cannot be truly sustainable unless it can deliver real economic benefits as well. Existing recycling-based processing and manufacturing facilities serve as a cornerstone to California's emerging green economy, but we can -- and we must -- do much more to foster this vital infrastructure for sustainability."

By the way, current California law through California Public Resources Code Section: 42001 declares “that the health, safety, and welfare of the people of California depend upon the development, stability, and expansion of domestic markets for the postconsumer wastes and secondary wastes collected within the state. It is, therefore, the purpose of this chapter to stimulate the use of postconsumer waste materials and secondary waste materials generated in California as raw materials used as feedstock by private business, industry, and commerce.” 

A no brainer. Don’t you agree?

For a copy of the Recycling BIN White Paper, visit www.greenteamsanjoaquin.com

Blain Bibb is the Chair of the award-winning Green Team San Joaquin and CEO of ServiceMaster Building Maintenance.