Marin Sanitary FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

If you don’t see your question here, you may contact us and a customer support representative will assist you.

GENERAL

If it is after noon on your service day, please call our Customer Service Department within 48 hours at (415) 456-2601 to report the miss. Misses on Fridays must be reported by Tuesday morning.  We will send a driver back out to your residence as soon as possible.

Please call the office (415) 456-2601 as soon as you can and we will exchange it with a new one.

If you do not want to clean your cart, you can always schedule a steam cleaning for a nominal fee by calling (415) 456-2601.

Our residential 3-cart program provides one for garbage (landfill), one 64-gallon, split-cart for recycling, and one compostables cart for yard waste and food scraps/food soiled paper.

These are your options for residential carts:

  • Garbage (landfill) carts are available in 20, 32, 64 and 96 gallon sizes. You may upsize your garbage cart or add an additional cart for an increased monthly rate.
  • Recycling split-cart containers are available in 64-or 96-gallon sizes. If you have a 64-gallon split-cart for recycling, you can upsize to a 96-gallon cart for no extra fee.
  • Compostables carts are available in 32-and 64-gallon sizes. Additional recycling and organics carts are available for a small monthly fee.

If you wish to change a cart size, please contact customer support at (415) 456-2601 or visit our Residential Services page for more information.

We use automatic trucks that utilize a hydraulic tipping arm. Since the drivers no longer get out of the trucks, we ask that you space your carts 2 ft. apart from each other and from cars, mailboxes, and trees so the tipping arms can easily access your carts.

If the item is still useful, we suggest that you try and find a reuse center that will take it as a donation. Otherwise, you can schedule a bulky item pickup or drop it off at the Marin Resource Recovery Center. Special handling fees may apply.

Use our handy Where Does It Go, Joe tool to find out which cart the item in question should go into.

RECYCLING

No. Plastic bags clog our sorting machine when placed in your curbside container. Please only put these in the gray landfill cart. Some grocery stores will take back clean plastic bags at designated locations.

Keep the caps on your bottles and jars.

Not in your curbside container. While cartons and aseptic containers can be recycled in some systems, our facility is not setup to process this material.

Please break down the box as best as you can into 2 ft X 2 ft X 2 ft bundles and place them beside your recycling cart. Alternatively, you can drop the box off at the Marin Resource Recovery Center free of charge.

Having a dual-stream recycling program allows for more recycling because paper products do not become soiled by liquids and are not shredded by broken glass. It also makes it easier to hand sort the rest of the materials.

COMPOSTABLES

We cannot accept any plastics labeled as compostable or bio-degradable. If we did, the quality compost WM EarthCare produces would lose its organic farming certification. Their compost is certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). OMRI doesn’t allow compostable or bio-degradable plastics as many are actually petroleum based and just break down into micro plastics. Others don’t break down rapidly enough and it is hard to differentiate between compostable and non-compostable plastics. Please put your compostable plastics or bio-degradable items in your garbage cart.

  • Layer your green cart with yard clippings or paper, then food. This will help keep your container clean.
  • Freeze food scraps until the night before collection day, then empty into your green cart.
  • Sprinkle some baking soda in your green cart to absorb odors.

Compost can be purchased from WM Earth Care and American Soil and Stone year round. We also have a compost giveaway every year at our Customer Appreciation Day.

Invest in a kitchen pail for collecting food waste. You can buy one online, or just use a bowl that you already have.
  • Empty your kitchen pail into your green cart frequently.
  • Line the pail with a brown paper bag. While we cannot accept biodegradable or compostable plastic bags/liners in compost, food-soiled paper is okay!

HAZARDOUS WASTES

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are considered hazardous waste and can be brought to the Marin Household Hazardous Waste Facility for proper disposal. Incandescent lightbulbs can be put in your garbage bin or brought to the facility for recycling.

Copyright © 2024 Marin Sanitary Service. All Rights Reserved.

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