The Oroville Recycling Market Development Zone offers incentives to businesses that used recycled products.

Recycled materials include paper products such as newsprint, corrugated containers and mixed paper. Companies that recycle plastic, aluminum cans, and wood may also benefit.

Pat Clark-Griffin, director of business assistance and housing development for the city of Oroville, said the zone has been in place since 1992. The zone's incentives include expedited permit processing, low-cost industrial land, assistance with employee recruitment, and a variety of financing options.

"Some local business have qualified for loans and grants because they are located in the zone," Clark-Griffin said.

She is the administrator for the Oroville zone that overlays the Enterprise Zone. Businesses located within the RMDZ are included in the Enterprise Zone.

Sierra Pacific Packaging, Inc. (SPPI) received a $2 million 1.9 percent interest loan through the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Companies that receive the loans must be located in one of California's RMDZ.

Sierra Pacific located in the Oroville RMDZ near the airport manufactures cardboard cartons for the food and beverage industry with quality printing. Allen Ennis, president of SPPI, said initially, the company imported virgin paper from the south. Gradually, they have converted the majority of their manufacturing to recycled paper board that comes from California.

Special equipment purchased with the recycling loan enhanced that change.

"It (the loan) allowed us to more successfully transition into recycled paperboard," Ennis said.

The state's recycling zones are for businesses that use products with materials that would normally end up in a landfill, according to the Integrated Waste Management Board Web site.

Oroville's zone includes the city's airport business park and large parcels of industrial zoned land. The zone takes in industrial parcels from Feather River Boulevard to Lower Wyandotte Road.