OROVILLE -- Eddie Rutherford pulled up his plastic face guard and took a break from tearing apart an old television set at the eRecology electronic waste processing plant Thursday.

Rutherford, 29, carefully extracts cathode ray tubes from old televisions and computers that will be shipped from the Oroville plant to a manufacturer in Irvine, which will turn the tubes that contain lead into other glass products.

The e-waste processing plant opened a month and a half ago in the Highway 70 Industrial Park at the south end of Feather River Boulevard.

Although the plant is under the umbrella of Recology of Butte and Colusa counties, it is a separate corporation.

Rutherford is one of 47 unemployed people who were hired through the Private Industry Council of Butte County job training program.

"This job has meant a lot to me," Rutherford said.

Rutherford is one of the top 10 percent of employees selected to remove the tubes because of their dexterity in removing them safely and efficiently without breaking the glass.

Rutherford was an unemployed construction worker before becoming an intern paid for work training at eRecology.

The idea for the company sparked when Bill Finley, executive director of PIC, watched a documentary about children in China who were holding e-waste over an open fire to extract the lead from cathode tubes, which look like large, misshapen bubbles.

About a year and a half ago, Finley met with Joe Matz of Recology and asked if he could help

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start a processing plant to create jobs and recycle e-waste safely.

Computers that are thrown away every few years in the United States because of outdated technology contain toxic chemicals such as cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and polyvinyl chlorides. These materials have toxic effects that can range from brain damage to kidney disease to mutations and cancers.

Matz said before they opened, they made sure all the e-waste the plant processed would stay in the United States, where processing is under strict regulation.

Tony DeLuca, e-waste manager, said PIC labor will allow the company to grow over the next year and a half and become a sustainable company.

The workers will train over 18 to 29 months as the company's profits increase.

"We expect to be profitable in six months," DeLuca said. "Over 12 to 16 months, we will start hiring these individuals as full-time employees."

Or some could go to other manufacturing companies with their acquired work skills.

Many of the trainees have been out of the work force for a while because of the slow economy, DeLuca said, including two electronic engineers.

The plant also has office employees who are in the work training program.

This is a first job for some employees, some of who have been incarcerated and are training for their first career.

The plant is a large warehouse with a concrete floor. Workers take apart computers and televisions on tables and put the various parts, from computer boards to microchips, in large carts on wheels.

DeLuca said the No. 1 work priority is safety. Workers wear head protective gear and safety shields over their faces.

They trained for two months, then the California Department of Toxic Substances Control inspected the plant and the workers for compliance to safety standards and regulations. DeLuca said both the plant and workers passed the first time.

The money comes from both the state and from product sales.

When people buy electronics, they are charged a recycling tax. Then the state pays processing plants by the pound to take e-waste. Every part and substance in the electronics is removed and recycled. Some expensive computer chips can be reused, DeLuca said.

All the metal, wire, plastic and glass is removed and sold to manufacturers of different products.

For example, plastic can be reused in a variety of ways, including recycling into plastic pellets bought to manufacture a variety of products.

That keeps all the e-waste from going to landfills, where toxic substances can get into the water and soil, DeLuca said.

With the electronics industry growing and constantly changing and a worldwide love affair with electronic products, e-waste should be a growing business.

DeLuca is confident about that.

"The great news about this is we know it will be a sustainable business," DeLuca said.

DeLuca said some of the money used to train the workers came from American Recovery Act funds.