When: Saturday November 16 10am – 2pm
Where: Recycling Center 535 Jacoby St., San Rafael
When: Saturday November 16 10am – 2pm
Where: Recycling Center 535 Jacoby St., San Rafael
In 2020, many California restaurants, malls and other businesses will need to change the way they make compost and recycling bins accessible to customers.
Assembly Bill 827 (making its way through the California legislature now) mandates that businesses that are already required to subscribe to recycling services under AB 341 or composting services under AB 1826 (see our Commercial Laws page for more info) provide customers with “a recycling bin or container for that waste stream that is visible, easily accessible, adjacent to each bin or container for trash other than that recyclable waste stream, except in restrooms, and clearly marked with educational signage.”
In short, you’ll need to make compost and recycling bins or containers accessible and clearly marked with educational signage indicating what is accepted in the local solid waste programs.
We’ll keep you posted as AB 827 develops. You can read more about AB 827 online here.
If you’re a commercial customer of Marin Sanitary and you have questions about composting and recycling laws that impact you, please be sure to read our Commercial Laws page.
You can also get in touch with our Commercial Coordinators if you have specific questions.
Want to get some compost or recycling signage up now at your business? Visit our Posters & Flyers page for free printable posters.
With the signing of Assembly Bill No. 815, California Governor Gavin Newsom has added another layer of accountability on cities, counties and regional agencies in the state’s quest to divert from disposal 50% of all solid waste through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities.
Current law requires a city, county, or regional agency to submit an annual report to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery summarizing its progress in reducing solid and household hazardous waste. The department will also review a jurisdiction’s compliance with the diversion requirements every few years to determine if the jurisdiction failed to make a good faith effort to implement its source reduction and recycling element or household hazardous waste element.
Now with AB 815, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery will be able to consider whether a jurisdiction has implemented a dual stream recycling program as part of its good faith effort.
The good news is that here at Marin Sanitary, we’ve operated dual stream recycling for years because we know it’s the right thing to do for the environment, our community, and our customers.
Thank you for doing your part!
You’ll find the full text of AB-815 online here.
What happens when you mix recycling education with a Maghan-Trainor-inspired song and a dash of silly?
This parody video!
Made by our friends at Sustainable Tucson about wishful recycling, both the message — and the delivery — made us smile.
And remember, if you have a question about what you can put in your curbside recycling, use our Where Does It Go, Joe online tool to find out.
Enjoy!
California Coastal Cleanup Day welcomes more than 60,000 volunteers who will pick up hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash and recyclables from beaches, lakes, and waterways each year. It brings awareness to the marine litter problem and provides a community event for direct involvement. Join the fight to preserve wildlife by taking trash out of the environment. Volunteer alongside your families, friends, coworkers, scout troops, school groups, and service clubs. Plan to spend a day outside connecting with your community to celebrate California!
The event is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Ocean Conservancy. California Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event in the US and International Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event on the planet!
Save the date: Saturday, September 21
Visit the California Coastal Cleanup Day website for more information and to find Marin volunteer opportunities.
We know that collecting food waste for composting can be… well, downright yucky. Here are some tips to keep that “yuck factor” to a minimum.
Diverting food waste from landfill is extremely important, and we appreciate you doing your part to achieve Marin’s zero waste goal!
Ever wonder just how we got to be so dependent on plastics? In Never gonna give you up: how plastic seduced America, journalist Susan Strasser takes us on tour of America’s plastic story from first production in 1907, to the Disneyland plastic “house of the future,” to today’s single-use obsession. It’s an eye-opening journey through our love affair with plastic.
Read the full Guardian.com article here.
There’s no doubt that the recycling industry is changing. Over the last few years there have been significant fluctuations in the markets for plastics and other recyclables that have caused us (and everyone else) to reevaluate the status quo. As we react and take measures to address these changes, it’s easy to feel discouraged about recycling, but today we came across an article that reminded us that what we need at this pivotal moment is optimism.
In the Waste 360 article “Why (and How) to Talk Optimistically About Recycling Right Now” author Kate Bailey provides several upshots to the current market woes that she says are a testament that recycling is going to come out stronger. Specifically she lists:
• We are (finally!) investing in domestic recycling processing and markets.
• We are recognizing recycling is more about quality than tonnage.
• We are starting to have a real conversation about plastics.
• We are shifting responsibility from cities to producers.
• We are getting closer to talking about the true costs.
• We are looking beyond the blue bin.
To read the full article, and tap into Bailey’s educated optimism, click here.
This guide was produced by Marin Sanitary Service, Marin Hazardous and Solid Waste Joint Powers Authority, Sonoma County Waste Management Agency, WM EarthCare, Mill Valley Refuse Service, Recology Sonoma Marin, and Bay Cities Refuse.
The special section was published May 9, 2018 in the Pacific Sun and the North Bay Bohemian and May 10, 2018 in the Marin IJ and Press Democrat.
For a printable version of the Recycle Right publication, please click here.
Check out Matthew Pera’s May 31, 2019 Marin IJ article titled “Plastic bans are a growing trend in Marin” to learn about the challenges recyclers are facing selling plastics and the steps some of our local cities are taking to reduce the amount of plastics we use.
Remember, a good rule of thumb for plastic recyclability is: recycle only plastic bottles, jugs or tubs.
If you’re not sure if a material can be recycled, our “Where Does it Go, Joe?” tool will help you find out.