Company plans recycling center expansion

BARSTOW • The Planning Commission will consider All Recycling Center’s conditional use permit at its meeting Monday, as the organization prepares to expand into a larger 11-acre facility.

All Recycling has operated at its existing property at 1500 Santa Fe Dr. since 2000, said supervisor Daniel Gonzalez, whose father owns the business.

Gonzalez said business has been good for the company, which used to be in an even smaller facility at 1605 State St. since the company was founded in 1993.

The company has nine employees, but could hire a few more once it expands, Gonzalez said. He said it has taken about two months so far to complete the city’s planning process.

“The customers are so loyal to us,” said Gonzalez, who cashes out his customers from behind a window. “We don’t have enough room to accommodate them anymore.”

But the company must first receive the necessary permit from the Planning Commission. Some members had expressed concern about the site, which the company is in escrow for.

Planning Commissioner Bob Clemmer said he did not feel that the company had provided enough information when it approached the commission. There were potential issues with traffic from customers and trucks at the new property, and he said he wanted the Barstow Fire Protection District to vouch for the project’s fire safety. The property had fire sprinklers, but would still involve storing recyclables inside a wooden structure, Clemmer said.

“I just don’t believe they were prepared for us to make a decision,” Clemmer said, adding that he had not made up his mind about the project.

One condition of the project’s approval would require the company to only use the rear area of the property for recycling, so that the recycling operations would not be visible to drivers on West Main Street.

Even then, “it is way more room than what we currently have,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he hoped the community saw the benefit of his father’s company.

“Most people see it as trash, but there’s a value to these commodities for us and to the public,” Gonzalez said.