ENVIRONMENT

RecycleForce gets federal money to train more formerly incarcerated for environmental jobs

Sarah Bowman
Indianapolis Star

An Indianapolis company is saving the earth, according to its employees, but it also is saving people’s lives. 

RecycleForce is a local nonprofit that recycles electronics waste, and it hires formerly incarcerated people and provides them with training and support to do that work. Now that organization will be able to expand its work and reach more people because of a federal grant. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this month that 19 organizations across the country were selected to receive a total of $3.8 million, and RecycleForce is the only recipient in Indiana. These grants, for roughly $200,000 each, are being awarded as part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

“We’ve got problems all around the country and the world and when you have these credentials, then you have the skills to make the world safer and healthier for everyone,” said Janet McCabe, the EPA’s Deputy Administrator, at a Friday event at RecycleForce. 

Biden appointed McCabe, a Hoosier, to the No. 2 spot at EPA. She lives just about five minutes from RecycleForce’s near eastside facility and has often brought her old phones and computers there to recycle.  

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett speaks during a press conference announcing an EPA grant awarded to RecycleForce on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, at RecycleForce in Indianapolis.

McCabe toured the facility Friday, joined by Mayor Joe Hogsett and the environmental programs director of the Indiana Finance Authority Jim McGoff. They were joined by several dozen employees of the company to share and celebrate the announcement.

It is really gratifying to see federal money coming to her home community, McCabe said. And Hogsett said he is excited when money is coming back from Washington to Indianapolis, adding that these dollars will go a long way to helping a lot of people.

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The funding is part of EPA’s Brownfields job training grants, which offer residents of historically polluted and neglected communities an opportunity to gain skills and certifications needed to secure environmental work in their communities.

That’s exactly what RecycleForce has been doing since it opened in 2006. Not only has it hired those re-entering society after being released from prison, but then it also offers programs to help train those employees in how to clean-up hazardous waste and respond in emergency situations.

Those skills and positions are in high demand, said McCabe and RecycleForce president Gregg Keesling. More than 150 employees have completed one of the highest levels of hazardous waste certification, according to Keesling, and nearly all of them have received long-term job offers.

With the federal grant, RecycleForce will be able to expand its training program to reach 40 more people starting in October.

“This EPA grant is aligned with our work to grow the workforce in these environmental jobs that are so needed,” Keesling said.

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These are the exact types of skills needed to help clean up what is known as a brownfield site, which is a piece of land that has actual or potential contamination that poses a risk to human health and the environment. There are more than 2,500 brownfield sites throughout Indiana, and several hundred of them are in Indianapolis.

These sites often stay inactive because of concerns about liability and cleanup at the sites. But by having more people trained in this work, these sites could be cleaned and redeveloped, providing both job opportunities and economic growth, McCabe said.

Andrew King, director of inventory and quality control for Recycle Force leads a media tour of the facility on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, at RecycleForce in Indianapolis. Here he holds a circuit board which will be recycled for the gold copper alloy contained inside.

RecycleForce just broke ground on a new facility that will employ 600 people and recycle 12 million pounds of electronic waste annually, doubling its capacity. The new headquarters is on land that once was home to a manufacturing plant and needed to be cleaned up.

“We are excited to support RecycleForce,” said Rodney Francis with EmployIndy and a board member of the nonprofit. One of the fastest-growing groups entering the workforce is the re-entry population, he said, and this gives them a chance.

“And we are excited for the EPA to see RecycleForce as we always see them,” Francis said, “a jewel to our community.”

Still, Keesling said they need more help. RecycleForce is able to train these individuals and they have no shortage of job offers, he said, but they often have barriers to taking them because they would require movement and travel outside the allowed zone of their parole.

Gregg Keesling at RecycleForce in Indianapolis, IN on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. Keesling, president of RecycleForce, employs a few people who were released from jail to COVID-19.

These individuals could do so much more good for the community and cleaning up the environment, Keesling said, but they aren’t able to get out and put their certifications to use.

“This training gives them access that the criminal justice system then stands in the way off,” Keesling said.

He said he hopes this grant starts the conversation on how to best maximize these dollars — both for those being trained as well as the communities and neighborhoods facing legacy pollution. He also hopes this type of program can spread statewide to help formerly incarcerated people in every corner of Indiana, and capture tons of electronic waste that currently ends up in landfills.

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $30 million will be invested into the Brownfields Job Training grants over the next five years. Recipients this year include organizations in New York, California, Alaska and Missouri. While RecycleForce is part of the first wave of funding, EPA anticipates awarding as many as 50 additional grants starting next year.

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStar’s environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.