Overview

The Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) program is a three-way partnership among businesses, local governments, and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) Program provides incentives to businesses that use recycled materials to make new products, that prevent or reduce waste as part of their manufacturing processes, that process or recondition (add value) to a product to enable it to be reused again, or that use a non-combustion process (conversion technology) to produce electricity. It combines recycling with economic development to foster new businesses, expand existing ones, and create jobs. 

Santa Barbara Regional RMDZ

The Santa Barbara Regional RMDZ includes the County of Santa Barbara, encompassing the unincorporated areas of the County, as well as the Cities of Lompoc, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria.  It is one of 33 RMDZs in California.  To receive assistance under the RMDZ Program, businesses must be within the boundaries of a zone and must produce or add value to a marketable commodity that contains recyclable materials.

The following types of assistance are available:

RMDZ Revolving Loan Program

Low-interest loans are available to private businesses and nonprofit organizations that are located within the Santa Barbara Regional RMDZ to increase the diversion of non-hazardous solid waste from landfills and to foster market demand for secondary and postconsumer materials.

• Fixed interest rate for term of loan
• Maximum loan term is 15 years, if secured by commercial real estate
• A loan not secured by commercial real estate is based on the useful life of the asset(s) being financed, with a maximum term of 10 years.
• Loan of up to 75 percent of the direct costs for an eligible project or up to $2 million, whichever is less.

Funds may used for:

• Purchase of machinery and equipment;
• Working capital;
• Purchase of real estate;
• Real estate improvements;
• Refinancing of onerous debt that results in increased diversion; and
• Financing of loan closing points.

Technical Assistance

The following examples of technical assistance are available:

• Finding sources of secondary materials and processes for a variety of material types, such as plastics, paper, construction and demolition debris, and tires;
• Locating a site or property for a new business or for an existing business wishing to relocate;
• Referrals to other sources of technical information, including on-line sources of information, and to other state and federal programs; and
• Identifying other potential funding sources.

Marketing Assistance

The following types of marketing assistance are available to businesses through CalRecycle:

• Recycle Store, an on-line store to help a business sell its recycled-content products that are manufactured in RMDZs (http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/recyclestore/);
• Recycled-Content Products Directory, an on-line directory of manufacturers where their products containing recycled-content can be listed and searches may be conducted by product or company(http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/RCP/);
• Referrals of businesses to industry-specific materials exchanges to assist them in locating specific feedstocks or in selling their products;
• The California Materials Exchange (CALMAX) portal assists businesses, organizations, manufacturers, schools, and individuals by providing links to various on-line resources for exchanging materials (http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/calMAX/).  These on-line resources provide information on markets for non-hazardous materials that have traditionally been discarded.
• Links between zone businesses, where one company's products may serve as another firm's feedstock; and

• Assistance to out-of-state businesses seeking to site in California to identify RMDZs that meet their selection criteria and to provide referrals to those zones.

Local Incentives

Depending on the jurisdiction, the following types of additional incentives may be available:

• Relaxed building codes and zoning laws
• Streamlined permitting processes
• Reduced taxes and licensing and
• Finding secondary material feedstock

More information

If you would like more information about the Santa Barbara Regional RMDZ Program, please contact the Zone Administrator, at (805) 882-3616. To see a brochure on the Santa Barbara Regional RMDZ, please click on this link: RMDZbrochure final.pdf