Breathing New Life Into Old Materials

North County is finding new resources that can be mined to create manufacturing jobs: the raw materials reclaimed from the recycling of metals, plastic, paper and building materials.

Instead of stuffing these resources into local landfills--where the county charges truckers up to $500 to leave, for example, a load from a demolished building--the materials are being given another tour of duty.

An example of this new kind of entrepreneurship is San Marcos businessman Gary Schultz, who watched the building and remodeling boom sweep into North County. What he saw, as an accompanying economic development, was discarded gypsum board.

Seventy wallboard contractors were producing the gypsum in the form of construction leftovers and “teardowns.” Shultz and his partner, Modesto Lopez, set up a manufacturing facility in Mira Mesa to process 300 tons of this “ore” daily. And truckers pay him $12 a ton to accept it.

Aside from selling the reclaimed gypsum to cement plants--where it becomes part of the mix that trucks carry to construction sites--it is bagged and sold to local garden supply stores as a soil amendment.

In Carlsbad, another manufacturer has tapped a different kind of North County “mine”: recycled plastic containers. Plastic milk jugs constitute nearly 20% of the raw materials used to make the garden and utility carts at Republic Tool & Manufacturing Corp., where 200 people work.

As the costs of transportation and virgin raw materials rise, being near a regular supply of material becomes important to any new industry. And North County has been a good source of these new raw materials.

“Our county was the first in the state to pass a mandatory recycling ordinance and designate North County as the pilot area. We should build up local industry and jobs on this base,” said Brook Nash of Solana Recyclers, a veteran “mining” outfit.

Currently, many of the recyclables are being shipped to Los Angeles or overseas, or just thrown away.

According to Jeanne Wirka of the Sacramento-based foundation Californians Against Waste, “almost anything that you can make from virgin raw materials can be made from recycled.”

Wirka cites bathtubs, sinks, roofing shingles and floor tile as examples. A recent trade publication, the American Recycling Market Annual Directory, cites 500 such categories. Among the examples: electrified fences, picnic tables, playground equipment and printed business forms.

“We got the goods and we want the jobs,” Wirka said in reference to the fact that recycled materials such as paper and plastic are readily available now. She wants to see these resources used to retain manufacturing business in the state and develop local economies.

A new San Diego County project will attempt to do just that.

Nelson Olivos and his colleagues at the county Department of Public Works have put in a bid to create a Recycling Market Development Zone on Otay Mesa, where Interstate 5 meets the U.S.-Mexico border. There, more than 6,000 acres already zoned for industrial use are in the running for a state award of tax breaks and grants to promote end-use recycling industries.

According to Lisa Hansen of Public Works, local officials are “99% sure” of getting the deal with the state; an announcement is expected next month. “Even if we didn’t get it, other programs like ‘enterprise zones’ and ‘international trade zones’ could be applied to the acreage to make it attractive for such factories,” she said.

La Jolla industrial consultant Gretchen Brewer has conducted a study of firms in San Diego County that are seriously interested in siting plants here “because of the assured materials supply and other advantages afforded by the potential recycling zone status.” In layman’s language, the various zone benefits can be combined, like using triple coupons at the supermarket. It’s the sort of thing other states have been using to entice business out of California.

For information on the proposed San Diego Recycling Market Development Zone or current manufacturing activities using recycled material in the county, call Lisa Hansen at 974-2697.

For information about the American Recycling Market Annual Directory or the buyers guide, call 800-267-0707.