Recycling Growth Is Creating Jobs

Because it is so closely linked with lifestyle and recreational choices, most of us want the environment to stay the way it is--or improve. Now there is another good reason: jobs.

The recycling trend is part of the overall environmental story, but in North County, the increase in recycling activity is also creating jobs--jobs in the environment.

People are switching over from other work into this new industry, which, until recently, was thought of as a negative factor in the overall economic picture.

“There are lots of opportunities out there for advancement,” says Richard Anthony, a San Diego County recycling official.

He is a major player in the recently announced plan to build an $85-million facility in North County devoted entirely to cleaning up the environment via processing and selling recyclables.

The recycling plant, which will be next to the San Marcos landfill, is expected to reduce by a third the volume of trash going into the landfill.

“We’re going to be able to export $2 million worth of cardboard to Asia-probably Indonesia,” Anthony said. When completed in 1994, the San Marcos facility will be the largest of its kind in the United States, and, Anthony estimates, create 1,000 jobs in the county.

As a matter of fact, county zoning officials are about to reclassify recycling as an “industry.” That designation would make it eligible for the same kind of perks being offered certain other business enterprises that the government is trying to bring into, or keep in, the area.

Grant Farrier, publisher of “Environmental Business Journal,” presented some new environmental industry figures at a UC San Diego seminar last weekend: “Currently 400,000 are employed nationwide. Another 260,000 will be added by ’95.”

Local colleges are expanding programs for people who want to train for these new jobs. Local businesses, such as Carlsbad-based Greenfield Environmental, are offering more and more services of an environmental nature.

Greenfield, which is expanding 25% a year, sets up programs here and throughout the state to help communities keep toxics out of the air and water via recycling. Nikki Clay, a spokesman for Greenfield, said that, for years, recycling and pro-environment regulations were thought of as anti-business. “Now these environmental rules are looking very pro-business,” she said.

Although folks in the military and defense industry may not have perceived a positive connection before now, they are prime candidates for environmental jobs when they muster out or, as may be the case these days, are laid off.

Some servicemen and women are already involved in environmental work full time. Others are in related fields that, when supplemented with training such as the intensive courses offered locally, can lead to employment in the civilian environmental industry.

A recent poll by the trade magazine “Environmental Careers,” discovered that the top environmental careers, in which there was the most demand, were (in no particular order): industrial hygienists, project managers, hazardous waste-remediation engineers, water specialists and geologists-hydrogeologists, environmental risk assessors, analytical-laboratory professionals, air quality specialists and business development-marketing professionals.

If you’re doing something like a job on this list, in or out of the defense industry, and are thinking about making a switch, training is available close to home.

Steve Kowalsky, an environmental expert who works for UCSD, said the university’s extension classes are getting people a lot of jobs they couldn’t have gotten otherwise. Palomar Community College also serves as a major center in the state for training people in the specialties related to water and hazardous material.

This new “industry” is not just nuts and bolts stuff, either. It extends to all sorts of support businesses.

A few years ago, Jean and Carlos Richardson began a mail order business in Julian that supports sustainable agriculture and ecologically sound business practices. Their organic product purchasing and shipping operations grew so fast, they had to find warehouse space in San Diego. “And we’re still growing 25% a year,” said Jean.

By any standards, these growth figures are good business. And, for many, the new environmental jobs are personally rewarding because they promote long-range solutions to some messy problems.

ENVIRONMENTAL CAREERS

Local Training

California State University at San Marcos (ecology/biology) 752-4811.

National University-Vista (hazardous material certificate) 563-7292.

Palomar Community College (water/hazardous materials) 744-1150.

UC San Diego Extension (hazardous materials) 534-6947.

Job Listings

“Environment Careers” (magazine) 303-229-0029.

“Environment Opportunities” (newsletter) 707-444-6669.

“Environmental Career Service” (entry-level advisories) 415-362-5552.

“The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers” (Island Press Books) 800-828-1302 or local bookstores.

“The Job Hunter’s Guide to Careers in Hazardous Waste” (book) 714-675-8278