Press Room
Final Rollout Plan Approved For New Recycling, Organics And Garbage Collection Services
Transition to New Collection Services Starts This Summer
San Carlos, CA - April 29, 2010 The RethinkWaste Board of Directors approved two significant items related to the new franchised collection services at its April 22, 2010 meeting - making these the last major contractual decisions before the actual transition from Allied Waste of San Mateo County (Allied Waste) to Recology San Mateo County (Recology) for rollout of new collection services begins later this summer. The first step in the transition plan to a new franchised hauler is turning over the existing commercial recycling outreach program to Recology on July 1st. The next and most publicly visible aspect of the transition to new services is the delivery of 30,000 carts to businesses starting August 16th and 271,000 carts to residents starting August 30th.
The first item approved by the RethinkWaste Board was a cart delivery and recovery plan for the new collection services set to start on January 1, 2011. Under the CartSMART program, residents will be receiving three new wheeled carts, a blue cart for single-stream recycling, a green cart for organics (plant materials plus food scraps) and a black cart for garbage. In addition, commercial customers will also be receiving new wheeled carts and commercial recycling service will be converted to single-stream collection.
The cart delivery and recovery plan details when the new carts will be delivered by Recology to residential and commercial customers in each Member Agency, starting in August 2010 through December 2010, and how Allied Waste will collect the old plant materials carts, garbage cans and recycling tubs during the same time period. As residents receive their new carts they will be able to use them on their next service day, though all existing services will remain on the same collection frequency (i.e., weekly for garbage and every other week for recycling and plant materials) until January 1, 2011 when the new services will all be weekly.
"This cart plan provides substantial improvements over the originally proposed and approved Recology Implementation Plan, including moving up the residential delivery schedule by two weeks; allowing residents to immediately begin using the three new wheeled carts as opposed to having to wait until January 1, 2011; and integrating Recology's new cart delivery plans with Allied Waste's plans to recover old carts, tubs and cans," said Kevin McCarthy, Executive Director of RethinkWaste.
The new CartSMART program entails a convenient single-stream recycling program, where residents can place all recyclables into one cart, instead of having to separate them as they currently do into mixed paper and bottles and cans. In addition, starting January 1, 2011, residents will be able to place food scraps and food-soiled paper products with their yard trimmings (plant materials) into the compost cart. Both the recycling and organics collection services will go to weekly collection as opposed to the current every other week collection starting January 1, 2011. Commercial customers will also be converting to a single stream recycling program.
"The recent actions taken by the RethinkWaste Board of Directors and staff have paved the way for an early role out of single stream recycling in our communities," said RethinkWaste Board Chairperson Jim Porter. "We believe that the move to single stream recycling and the implementation of the food scraps program will not only make recycling more convenient for the residents and businesses we serve, but also benefit our environment through increased diversion and recycling of materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill."
The second item was a Commercial Recycling Agreement between Recology and Allied Waste to take over the existing Allied Waste commercial outreach program as of July 1, 2010. Through this agreement, Recology will be integrating the existing commercial outreach program, which includes recycling outreach coordinators and outreach material designed to encourage recycling by businesses, with its planned commercial recycling sales blitz, which will target those businesses that currently do not recycle. As of July 1, Recology will manage the existing outreach staff of four, while Republic will continue to provide collection services to current and new commercial recycling accounts through December 31, 2010. Recology will be taking over recycling, organics and garbage collection services for residents and businesses in the RethinkWaste service area on January 1, 2011 from Allied Waste when its contract expires on December 31, 2010.
It is anticipated that the Commercial Recycling Agreement will result in a cost savings across the entire RethinkWaste service area estimated at $456,000 over 10 years, which will be passed back to each Member Agency.
The last two items above, when coupled with the RethinkWaste and Member Agency approval of the use of used commercial bins by Recology, provides for substantial cost savings and customer service improvements. The three items in total will reduce Recology's future costs by nearly $3.6 million over the ten years of the Franchise Collection Agreements with savings passed back to the Member Agencies. The RethinkWaste Board approved a recommendation on February 25, 2010 that all Member Agencies approve the use of used commercial bins and since then, 10 of the 12 agencies have done so with two approvals pending.
A previous effort initiated by the companies to negotiate an agreement for Recology to take over all services from Allied Waste in the summer fell through, but RethinkWaste staff and the two companies worked exhaustively and collaboratively over the past two months to successfully negotiate individual agreements that have captured nearly all the previously identified benefits of an early transition. The two items approved at last week's Board meeting were a result of these efforts.
RethinkWaste
Formed in 1982, RethinkWaste is a joint powers authority comprised of 12 Member Agencies (Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, the County of San Mateo and the West Bay Sanitary District) in San Mateo County and is a leader in implementing innovative waste reduction and recycling programs. RethinkWaste also owns and manages the Shoreway facility in San Carlos consisting of a permitted solid waste transfer station and a recycling processing facility. The Agency's legal name is the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA.) For more information on RethinkWaste, please visit our website at www.RethinkWaste.org.
For Further Information:
Monica Devincenzi, RethinkWaste
Phone: (650) 802-3509
Email: mdevincenzi@rethinkwaste.org
The first item approved by the RethinkWaste Board was a cart delivery and recovery plan for the new collection services set to start on January 1, 2011. Under the CartSMART program, residents will be receiving three new wheeled carts, a blue cart for single-stream recycling, a green cart for organics (plant materials plus food scraps) and a black cart for garbage. In addition, commercial customers will also be receiving new wheeled carts and commercial recycling service will be converted to single-stream collection.
The cart delivery and recovery plan details when the new carts will be delivered by Recology to residential and commercial customers in each Member Agency, starting in August 2010 through December 2010, and how Allied Waste will collect the old plant materials carts, garbage cans and recycling tubs during the same time period. As residents receive their new carts they will be able to use them on their next service day, though all existing services will remain on the same collection frequency (i.e., weekly for garbage and every other week for recycling and plant materials) until January 1, 2011 when the new services will all be weekly.
"This cart plan provides substantial improvements over the originally proposed and approved Recology Implementation Plan, including moving up the residential delivery schedule by two weeks; allowing residents to immediately begin using the three new wheeled carts as opposed to having to wait until January 1, 2011; and integrating Recology's new cart delivery plans with Allied Waste's plans to recover old carts, tubs and cans," said Kevin McCarthy, Executive Director of RethinkWaste.
The new CartSMART program entails a convenient single-stream recycling program, where residents can place all recyclables into one cart, instead of having to separate them as they currently do into mixed paper and bottles and cans. In addition, starting January 1, 2011, residents will be able to place food scraps and food-soiled paper products with their yard trimmings (plant materials) into the compost cart. Both the recycling and organics collection services will go to weekly collection as opposed to the current every other week collection starting January 1, 2011. Commercial customers will also be converting to a single stream recycling program.
"The recent actions taken by the RethinkWaste Board of Directors and staff have paved the way for an early role out of single stream recycling in our communities," said RethinkWaste Board Chairperson Jim Porter. "We believe that the move to single stream recycling and the implementation of the food scraps program will not only make recycling more convenient for the residents and businesses we serve, but also benefit our environment through increased diversion and recycling of materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill."
The second item was a Commercial Recycling Agreement between Recology and Allied Waste to take over the existing Allied Waste commercial outreach program as of July 1, 2010. Through this agreement, Recology will be integrating the existing commercial outreach program, which includes recycling outreach coordinators and outreach material designed to encourage recycling by businesses, with its planned commercial recycling sales blitz, which will target those businesses that currently do not recycle. As of July 1, Recology will manage the existing outreach staff of four, while Republic will continue to provide collection services to current and new commercial recycling accounts through December 31, 2010. Recology will be taking over recycling, organics and garbage collection services for residents and businesses in the RethinkWaste service area on January 1, 2011 from Allied Waste when its contract expires on December 31, 2010.
It is anticipated that the Commercial Recycling Agreement will result in a cost savings across the entire RethinkWaste service area estimated at $456,000 over 10 years, which will be passed back to each Member Agency.
The last two items above, when coupled with the RethinkWaste and Member Agency approval of the use of used commercial bins by Recology, provides for substantial cost savings and customer service improvements. The three items in total will reduce Recology's future costs by nearly $3.6 million over the ten years of the Franchise Collection Agreements with savings passed back to the Member Agencies. The RethinkWaste Board approved a recommendation on February 25, 2010 that all Member Agencies approve the use of used commercial bins and since then, 10 of the 12 agencies have done so with two approvals pending.
A previous effort initiated by the companies to negotiate an agreement for Recology to take over all services from Allied Waste in the summer fell through, but RethinkWaste staff and the two companies worked exhaustively and collaboratively over the past two months to successfully negotiate individual agreements that have captured nearly all the previously identified benefits of an early transition. The two items approved at last week's Board meeting were a result of these efforts.
RethinkWaste
Formed in 1982, RethinkWaste is a joint powers authority comprised of 12 Member Agencies (Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, the County of San Mateo and the West Bay Sanitary District) in San Mateo County and is a leader in implementing innovative waste reduction and recycling programs. RethinkWaste also owns and manages the Shoreway facility in San Carlos consisting of a permitted solid waste transfer station and a recycling processing facility. The Agency's legal name is the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA.) For more information on RethinkWaste, please visit our website at www.RethinkWaste.org.
For Further Information:
Monica Devincenzi, RethinkWaste
Phone: (650) 802-3509
Email: mdevincenzi@rethinkwaste.org