California program matches waste with need

Californians currently bury 46 million tons of waste each year — 60 percent of that from business and industry — and the state is running out of landfill space.

But, through an innovative state program, businesses in California have diverted 232,000 tons of refuse from landfills, saving nearly $1.5 million in the process. The program, the California Materials Exchange (Calmax), Sacramento, is a state-funded, business-to-business matchmaking effort aiming to conserve resources and landfill space.

Calmax was created in 1991 in response to Assembly Bill 939, which forced local jurisdictions to reduce landfilled waste by 25 percent by 1995 and by 50 percent by the year 2000.

The matchmaking program, one of the few designated solely for nonhazardous materials, helps businesses give or sell discarded materials at low cost to other companies, schools and governmental and nonprofit agencies.

Through the program, hundreds of Californians have discovered treasures among someone else’s trash. Nearly 100,000 pounds of plastic film from three California wineries wound up at a plastics company, where it was recycled into pellets for grocery sacks and trash can liners. Hundreds of worn cloth diapers from a diaper service have found another life as rags for car washes, optometrists and janitorial services. Students at Oakland’s Arts Magnet School and quilters for children with AIDS have created beautiful items with fabric scraps from a designer fashion manufacturer.

California’s business environment and communities benefit in several ways. The program:

* creates new markets for excess material;

* reduces disposal costs, even making the sale of previously discarded materials possible;

* provides tax credit opportunities through donations to nonprofit organizations;

* promotes economic development by helping new businesses find free or low-cost materials;

* enhances the environment by conserving resources and landfill space; and

* enriches the quality of life in California by providing free or inexpensive materials for schools, art groups and other nonprofit organizations.

Calmax publishes a free classified catalog, The Waste-Not Want Ads, which contains more than 60 pages of available and wanted items. Typical available items range from pallets, containers, wine racks, plastics, office furniture, truck parts, home doors and windows. Wanted items include asphalt, concrete, electronic and metal scrap, paint, paper, lumber and all types of plastics.

In addition to its catalog and online service, the program also encourages counties to start local materials exchanges to keep transport costs down. Currently, three counties — San Diego, Humbolt and Sonoma — have established their own exchanges.

Although Calmax provides assistance upon request to match resources with customers, most businesses and institutions arrange the trades among themselves without agency involvement.

The classifieds may also be accessed online via modem by dialing (916) 448-0615 and typing “calmax” at the prompt.