KOREATOWN : Edison Energizes Recycling Effort

The Korean Youth and Community Center has received a $50,000 grant from Southern California Edison to develop a recycling business that will provide training and jobs for youths.

The grant, to be disbursed over two years, is from Edison’s $1.5-million Community Renewal Fund, which was established last year. The center’s project was selected from among 150 proposals, said Wes Tanaka, Edison’s regional public affairs manager.

The money will enable the center to expand its existing recycling program, which collected 484,709 pounds of glass--worth $26,206--from Koreatown restaurants and bars from July, 1992, to June, 1993. The program employs a multiethnic team of eight youths on a part-time or full-time basis, said Bong Hwan Kim, the center’s executive director.

The expanded program will offer youths the chance to learn how to manage a small business and will provide counseling and educational sessions.

Edison will also work with the center to explore ways to manufacture products from recycled materials, Tanaka said.

“In the long term, the real money is in selling products produced from recycled materials,” Tanaka said. “That way, a venture such as this can be a growing concern, provide more jobs and at the same time help the environment.”