Waste makes haste to join business boom.

Waste makes haste to join business boom

New laws spark surge for materials recycling industry

The Southland's recycling business is growing about as fast as the competition within it, with surging amounts of waste paper, metal, glass and plastic being diverted from landfills for reuse.

The Southland's 511 firms involved in collecting, sorting, processing, packaging, transporting, selling, exporting and disposing of waste employ some 9,000 workers who produce between $600 million and $900 million in revenues annually.

Hugo Neu-Proler Co., the largest scrap metal recycling and exporting facility in the county and the country, alone exports 13 percent of the nation's scrap metal and expects to grow by another 50 percent by 1995. But General Manager John Prudent admits reaching that goal is getting tougher as the number of firms dealing in scrap metal have risen around the Southland.

"Next year, we expect scrap metal exports to go up significantly since Hiuka America opened a terminal at the port," noted Lisa Campbell, spokeswoman at the Port of Long Beach, where 265,314 tons of waste was exported in 1990.

According to Joan Edwards, director of the Integrated Solid Management Office in Los Angeles, "Recycling is a huge industry bringing the city big dollars."

The waste management crisis has resulted in Assembly Bill 939 mandating cities to recycle 25 percent of their trash by 1995 and 50 percent by the year 2000. Starting in 1992 end-users, such as mills, will get a $250,000 tax break for reconstituting recyclable materials into new useful products. This allowance is an incentive for companies to buy equipment and increase the volume of materials recycled.

AB 20/20, which mandates recycling of 80 percent of the state's beverage containers carrying the California redemption stamp, also is spurring waste management growth.

In the last half of 1990 the redemption rate of glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers stood at 70 percent compared to 40 percent before the bill was passed in 1987, said Joseph Massey, a trader with Alpert & Alpert Iron & Metals in Los Angeles.

AB 1305 is another important measure that is expected to fuel growth. The bill requires all newspaper publishers to use 50 percent secondary material for publishing newsprint by the year 2000.

Gary Petersen, vice president of Recycle America in Santa Monica, which operates one of the county's largest materials recovery facilities, called the bill "a milestone piece of legislation" because, he said, in addition to encouraging the collection of waste paper, it creates a market for it. His firm is planning four new facilities, with the aid of the city of Santa Monica.

Even though only a quarter of all waste paper is recycled, that industry produces $300 million in revenues for the area's 150 collector/processors. Close to half of this revenue, according to expert Bob Maynard of Allan Co., is from waste paper exports, primarily to Pacific Rim countries.

The government, one of the country's largest purchasers, can give the industry a boost if it began consuming more recycled products, said Joe Haworth, spokesperson for the L.A. County Sanitation District.

Meanwhile, only 25-30 percent of all waste plastic is reused, said Joe Haworth, spokesperson for the L.A. County Sanitation District. He believes there's vast potential for plastic recycling outfits if they operate locally. Because most waste plastic is shipped out of state for recycling, industrial users have been reluctant to depend on it in their manufacturing since they're unsure of constant supplies, Haworth said.

PHOTO : Piles of new business: Hugo Neu-Proler Co. plant on Terminal Island