Recycling Lives (“RL”) was formed with the intent to break the cycle of homelessness, poverty and incarceration by recycling lives and glass in Kern County.

• October 2017: RL was originally established as a California non-profit corporation
• January 2018: RL made a determination that the Kern Alliance of Business (KAB) was in a better position to ensure the successful operation of the RL program due to its connection with ETR and the partnerships that ETR has formed through the workforce development system.
• February 2018: RL assets were transferred to KAB, including the Andela Glass Pulverizer System (Glass Pulverizer System).
• Circa August 2019: KAB applied and received a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $435,000.

Thereafter, KAB entered into a lease agreement for its current facility located at 2550 E. Belle Terrace, Suite 600 and 601 in Bakersfield, California. KAB installed the Glass Pulverizer System in its facility which turns volumes of waste glass into fine sand and glass cullets that are ¾” in size with no sharp edges. The Glass Pulverizer System selectively removes metal, larger-sized plastics, and paper. The sand will be sold in bulk to private businesses, as well as to local cities and the County of Kern to be used for public work projects. The glass cullets will be sold to businesses and the general public.

The recycling lives course will provide adult learners with the principles of recycling process, including entrepreneurship and business fundamentals. In the Business Management Pathway, participants will learn goal setting, resource allocation, organizational structure and management techniques. This unique course is a partnership between Bakersfield Adult School, BARC, County of Kern, and Kern Alliance of Business.

The partnership will help provide participants to access the entire workforce development system, which is designed to increase access to, and opportunities for employment, education, training, and support services.

The Recycling Lives program includes classroom training on:

• Basic safety and equipment operation
• Soft skills
• Basic work readiness
• Basic accounting
• Warehousing
• Sales and marketing

In addition, participants receive training and certifications in the following:

• Operation of machinery
• Skidsteer
• Different types of forklifts

To identify eligible participants for the Recycling Lives Program, ETR works with:

• The Mission at Kern County
• Bakersfield Homeless Shelter
• Kern County Probation
• Garden Pathways
• Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
• Bakersfield Adult School (BAS) within the Kern High School District