Opinion 2: Green is good for business
While the spotlight on Worcester's biomedical industry has brightened recently thanks to the University of Massachusetts Medical School and its Nobel laureate Craig Mello, a 30-mile radius around the city encompasses a cluster of several cutting-edge but less well-known companies.
This green grouping indicates that Gov. Deval Patrick faces good odds in achieving his goal of making the commonwealth a world leader in clean energy.
Over the past several years, MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, has issued bonds or provided loans to a number of environmental companies in Massachusetts, about half of which lie within greater Worcester. These companies play critical roles in the commonwealth because they provide good jobs, help keep our climate and environment clean, and attract other similar companies to Massachusetts.
Just last week, for instance, Devens Recycling Center opened the nation's largest construction and demolition recycling facility. DRC will transform brick, concrete and steel waste into recycled products. Doing so will create 50 jobs over the next several months and additional employment over the next few years. These employees will carry out a vital task, helping the commonwealth meet its goal of recycling 75 percent (nearly double the current rate) of its construction and demolition waste.
Devens, which MassDevelopment has managed for more than a decade, will also serve as the future home of Evergreen Solar, one of the highest profile green businesses in Massachusetts. Just as the presence of high-tech outfits like Bionostics, Pharm-Eco Laboratories, and Xinetics created a business climate that attracted Bristol-Myers Squibb, the newer gathering of green companies in Devens will likely attract more representatives from this growing industry for years to come.
Although loosely clustered, green businesses locate in different kinds of communities all around greater Worcester. For example, last November ABC&D Recycling opened a facility in Ware thanks in part to a $5 million tax-exempt bond that MassDevelopment issued. ABC&D created 25 new jobs to help it handle nearly 200,000 tons of construction debris a year, waste that otherwise would have been burned or gone into landfills in the commonwealth.
Earlier this year, E.L. Harvey & Sons of Westborough expanded its construction and demolition recycling facility thanks to another $5 million financing package provided by MassDevelopment. This nearly century-old family business constructed a 46,000-square-foot facility that opened in January and supported the hiring of 15 new employees in addition to the 200 who had already worked at E.L. Harvey.
With all of the media attention that goes to issues as diverse as Cape Wind, Al Gore's fight against climate change, and the trend away from bottled water, the public has clearly long since picked up on the importance of going green. The quietly burgeoning cluster of environmental companies around Worcester demonstrates that choosing clean energy not only makes sense for the viability of our planet but also represents an exciting new strategic direction for economic development in Massachusetts.
Robert L. Culver is president and CEO of MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority.
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