Comment by cdrnsf

My dad spent 40+ years working at a unionized industrial facility in California that recycled paper and cardboard waste into the paper layer used to make the corrugated interior of cardboard boxes. There were some local regulations on waste water runoff that I'm aware of, but he never mentioned much else.

There was an EPA superfund site across the street (this all was adjacent to the beach).

The company also had a co-generator that they used to produce their own power (using natural gas) and sold excess power to the local electrical utility.

It's still in operation, though it changed owners ~4 times while he was there.