Press Room
New Recycle, Compost and Garbage Cart Delivery Begins
92,000 homes will receive carts in preparation for new franchised collection services
San Mateo, CA - August 30, 2010 - This morning marks the beginning of Recology San Mateo County's phased delivery of 276,000 new Recycle, Compost and Garbage carts to residents of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) service area (i.e., Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Unincorporated San Mateo County and the West Bay Sanitary District) with deliveries first starting in the City of San Mateo. A total of 92,000 homes, or an average of 1,200 homes per day, will receive the new wheeled carts over the next three and half months. The delivery schedule is as follows:
- San Mateo: August 30 - September 21
- Redwood City: September 22 - October 12
- San Carlos: October 13 - October 22
- Menlo Park: October 25 - November 2
- Belmont: November 11 - November 17
- Foster City: November 18 - November 24
- Burlingame: November 25 - December 1
- East Palo Alto: December 2 - December 7
- Hillsborough: December 8 - December 10
- Atherton: December 13 - December 15
- West Bay Sanitary District: December 16 - December 18
The new carts will be delivered the day before a resident's regular plant material collection service day.
As of January 1, 2011, Recology San Mateo County (formerly Norcal Waste Systems of San Mateo County), will provide recycling, compost and garbage franchised collection services to all Residential, Multi-Family and Commercial customers within the 12 Member Agencies of the SBWMA. Allied Waste of San Mateo County's franchised collection agreements with the 12 Member Agencies expire December 31, 2010.
Residents will receive three new, wheeled carts: A new black Garbage cart in the size of their choosing, (20, 32, 64 or 96 gallon), 64-gallon single-stream blue Recycle cart and 96-gallon green Compost cart, with the exception of Hillsborough, whose residents will continue to use their current green Yard Trimmings carts.
In June, most residents living in single-family homes were mailed a Garbage Cart selection brochure that included their current garbage service level and assigned Garbage Cart size, along with the option of changing their assigned size by July 9th. Responses were only needed if a different size cart was wanted other than the one assigned.
The mailer also included information on the new collection services, known as the "CartSMART" program. CartSMART includes weekly collection service for Recycle, Compost and Garbage, including a conversion to Single-Stream Recycling, which allows residents to put all of their recyclables into one blue cart without having to sort materials. Residents currently use the "dual-stream" system, which requires them to separate paper products from plastic, metal and glass containers and place into different recycling tubs.
Another new addition to the services in January is the collection of food scraps and food and beverage soiled paper products. Currently the green Yard Trimmings carts are only used for lawn trimmings, with the exception of the City
of San Carlos, who rolled out a residential compost program last year. In December, residents will also receive a two-gallon kitchen pail for in-home use once the program begins in 2011.
"We believe these changes will make collection services easier and more convenient," says Mario Puccinelli, General Manager for Recology San Mateo County. "The goal is to increase recycling and divert as much from the landfill as possible. We think these new programs will help us achieve that goal."
Residents may begin using all three carts right away, but are asked not to include food scraps in their Compost cart until January 1, except for San Carlos. Recycling and yard trimmings collection will continue to be every other week until January 1, 2011. Allied Waste will service the new carts through the end of this year, and will be using different trucks to pick up the Recycle carts. The trucks will look similar to a garbage truck, but will be dedicated for recycling only.
Residents are asked to put out their current green Yard Trimmings cart on their first collection day after receiving their new one for Allied Waste crews to pick up. Residents may keep their old garbage cans and recycle tubs if they would like to, or they may have them taken away. To have the recycling tubs taken away, residents are asked to place them upside down next to their carts on their recycling collection week. Those who would also like their old garbage cans taken away will be provided stickers that say "Take Me" to place on the cans.
Residents are encouraged to visit www.RecologySanMateoCounty.com or www.RethinkWaste.org for more information. A "How-To" video is available online at www.RecologySanMateoCounty.com for all Residential, Multi-Family Dwelling and Commercial customers explaining the details of the program as well as additional services provided by Recology.
On August 28, 2008, Recology of San Mateo County was chosen by the SBWMA Board of Directors to provide recycling, compost and garbage collection services to all Residential, Multi-Family and Commercial customers for the 12 following Member Agencies as of January 1, 2011. The SBWMA is the legal name for RethinkWaste.
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