Firm Gets Money to Build Trash Recycling Plant

The Massachusetts company that wants to build and operate a county trash recycling plant in San Marcos said Monday that it has secured $135 million to finance the project.

Financing will come from tax-exempt bonds issued by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority and a letter of credit provided by the Union Bank of Switzerland, National Westminster Bank PLC and Banque Paribas, according to the company, Thermo Electron.

Jerry P. Davis, president of the firm’s energy systems division, said the plant, which has not yet obtained all of the permits it needs, would benefit nearly 1.5 million residents in a fast-growing area by recycling much of North County’s waste, thereby reducing the amount of trash dumped in the county’s San Marcos landfill. The landfill is near capacity and scheduled to be closed soon.

The recycling plant would handle more than 550,000 tons of trash annually--about half of North County’s 1.2 million tons generated each year. Construction is expected to begin this month, and the plant is scheduled to be completed and operating by 1994.

Financing has been an issue in the debate over the project, with opponents filing suit in November challenging the county’s ability to pay for the facility without drastic increases in dumping fees. A project for an adjacent trash incinerator that was canceled by the County Board of Supervisors last summer would have yielded income by producing marketable electric power through its trash-burning operations.

The opponents--Christward Ministries, Citizens for Healthy Air in San Marcos and North County Concerned Citizens--also charged that the environmental study and other permits for the project are flawed because they pertain to both the trash-to-energy incinerator and the recycling facility.