Peninsula Plastics Recycling in Turlock was selected among more than 50 applicants to receive a $1 million grant which will bring new equipment and nine new positions to the company.

The grant will enable Peninsula Plastics Recycling to purchase equipment that will allow it to recover an average of 45 percent of its current recycling byproducts and turn it into landscaping material, a project that is slated to create nine new jobs.

Made possible through the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, Peninsula Plastics was just one of eight projects selected to receive funds through the greenhouse gas reduction initiative.

“These projects will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by keeping material out of landfills through composting, recycling, and waste prevention,” said CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen. 

The grants, using proceeds from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, are awarded based primarily on contributions to the state’s greenhouse gas reduction targets. Citing these targets as an important component of California’s effort to reach its statewide goal of 75 percent recycling, composting and source reduction by 2020, CalRecycle awarded funds to applicants demonstrating efforts toward reaching these targets.

A total of $19.5 million dollars has been allocated for construction and expansion of facilities and equipment upgrades, like the one at Peninsula Plastics, to process greater amounts of recycled materials.

Under CalRecycle’s Organics Grant Program five entities were selected for funding, including:

· CR&R Incorporated (Perris), $3 million to expand its current anaerobic digestion facility at the Perris Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility;

· Colony Energy Partners, LLC (Tulare and Fresno), which will receive $2.9 million to build a high-solids anaerobic co-digestion facility that will divert more than 110,000 tons of waste from landfills each year;

· Mid Valley Disposal, Inc. (Kerman), $3 million for a new covered, aerated, static-pile composting operation at its materials recovery facility and transfer station, diverting an additional 42,100 tons of material from landfills each year;

· Recology East Bay Organics (Oakland and San Francisco), $3 million for processing equipment to extract organic material intermingled with mixed solid waste; and

· Burrtec Waste Industries, Inc. (Victorville), $2.5 million to build a covered, aerated, static-pile composting operation and a mixed-waste processing facility.

Along with Peninsula Plastics, two other entities received funding under CalRecycle’s Recycled Fiber, Plastic, and Glass Grant Program, including:

 · Command Packaging (Vernon), which manufactures reusable plastic carry-out bags, will receive $3 million to upgrade its facility equipment to produce bags with higher recycled content that can be reused up to 125 times and ultimately be recycled. 

 · Sonoco Products Company (City of Industry), $1 million for new equipment to recover and process more recyclable fiber and for new paper-drying equipment to accelerate and thus increase production.

“By providing financial incentives for capital investment, we can expand the infrastructure needed to divert more material to secondary uses, which will help create jobs and strengthen our ability to manage materials to their highest and best uses,” said Mortensen.