Press Room
FOSTER CITY APPROVES INNOVATIVE DOOR-TO-DOOR HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION PROGRAM
Foster City Joins Belmont, East Palo Alto, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, San Carlos, San Mateo and the West Bay Sanitary District in Offering the Program
SAN CARLOS, CA – February 8, 2011 – The City of Foster City approved providing Door-to-Door Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), Universal Waste (U-Waste), Electronic Scrap (E-Scrap) and Sharps Recycling Collection Services to its single-family and multi-family residents at its January 18, 2011 City Council meeting. Foster City is the eighth RethinkWaste Member Agency that will offer the new program starting March 1, 2011. The Cities of Belmont, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Carlos and San Mateo, the Town of Hillsborough and the West Bay Sanitary District rolled out the program last year to their respective communities.
Mayor Linda Koelling was enthusiastic about the program, citing the benefits to both the residents and the environment, "I am excited that this program will make it convenient for residents to dispose of hazardous materials. By making it easier to do the right thing, not only will residents save time and hassle, but we also hope that fewer hazardous chemicals will end up in the landfill, groundwater or bay."
The program will provide a safe, convenient way for Foster City residents to properly manage items such as paint, solvents, insecticides, cleaning products, fluorescent lamps, laptops, computers monitors, TVs and sharps. Residents will call a toll free number or send an email to order a "kit bag" from Curbside, Inc., the vendor selected by RethinkWaste to provide the service, to place these types of items inside and schedule an appointment for its collection. Curbside, Inc. will then properly recycle, reuse, re-refine or dispose of the materials collected.
"We applaud the city council in approving this innovative and cost-effective program to prevent harmful discarded consumer products from entering the waste stream," said Kevin McCarthy, Executive Director of RethinkWaste.
Costs for the services will be $0.45 per month for single-family households and $0.20 per month for multi-family residents. The cost for this new service has been included in the garbage rates for 2011.
RethinkWaste awarded Curbside a contract for the services in October 2009. The Southern California-based company, a subsidiary of Waste Management, provides door-to-door services to over 40 jurisdictions across the country. Materials collected from the RethinkWaste service area will be processed at Curbside's facility in the East Bay.
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.
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