Marin Sanitary Service Educational Tours for Schools and Community Groups

We offer tours Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm by appointment.

A typical tour lasts 1.5-2 hours including time in the classroom and walking around the facilities.

Your tour starts in our Educational Classroom where you’ll learn about the 4R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle and rot) and have the opportunity to ask all of your recycling/composting questions!

Then we’ll visit the Marin Recycling Center where you can see how your paper, plastic, glass and aluminum are sorted and baled for recycling.
We’ll take you step-by-step through the recovery process and highlight the machinery that makes it happen.

At the Transfer Station you’ll see where the garbage trucks roll in and learn what happens to your garbage before it is sent to the landfill.

And finally, we’ll visit the famous Flying Can Ranch where you’ll meet our pigs, chickens and peacocks and learn how they contribute to our commitment to sustainability.

We will meet outside of the Marin Recycling Center, located at 535 Jacoby Street in San Rafael.

Please make sure to use this specific address, as typing “Marin Sanitary Service” into your phone/computer will take you to the incorrect location for the tour.

Our tour coordinator will be waiting outside of the Marin Recycling Center in a bright orange vest to help you with parking.

Parking is extremely limited, please see our General Tour Guidelines (pdf).

All our tours are free!

Our tours are appropriate for ages 6 and up, beginning with Kindergarteners. For safety purposes, we require that all tour participants come wearing closed-toed shoes.

Additionally, due to the fact that the majority of the tour is located outside, please come wearing weather-appropriate attire. In the event that heavy rain is expected on the morning of the tour, we can do a “virtual” tour in the classroom or watch a recycling video of our facility.  If these options do not work, your group would have the option to reschedule.

For a full overview of our tour guidelines, please see our MSS General Tour Guidelines.