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- Marin Sanitary Service to Roll Out First in the County Pilot Residential Food Composting Program
- Marin Sanitary Service Partners With Golden Gate Ferry on Recycling Program
- Marin Sanitary Service Wins Acterra Environmental Business Award
- Marin Sanitary Service Awarded the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award
- Marin Sanitary Presents Compost from Fair Food Scraps to the Marin County Cultural Services Commission
- Marin Sanitary Service Recycling Center Installs Solar Panels
- Marin Sanitary Announces Nine New Battery Recycling Sites in San Rafael
- President of Marin Sanitary Service to Present at the 2008 WasteExpo
- Marin Sanitary Service to Roll Out First in the County Pilot Residential Food Composting Program
Immediate Release
April 5, 20010
Media Contact: Christina Haro
415-453-0430
Marin Sanitary Service to Roll Out First in the County
Pilot Residential Food Composting Program
San Rafael, CA – Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) is rolling out Marin County’s first pilot residential food waste composting program to help prevent the release of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and keep even more waste from going to the landfill.
Twenty five percent of the food prepared in the U.S. each year is thrown out – approximately 96 billion pounds.# In landfills, food scraps decompose releasing methane, a GHG twenty times more potent than CO2.
“We are always working towards the goal of zero waste. This program has been a dream of ours for some time. We look forward to moving out of the pilot phase to include all of our service areas in Marin County,” said Patty Garbarino, President of MSS.
The pilot program will allow residents in the following service areas to put food scraps into their yard waste canisters starting in April: Sleepy Hollow, Oak Manor and Bolinas Ridge. The program will be rolled out in other areas over the next several months. Please look for new stickers and flyers on your yard waste canister.
MSS contracts with these cities are designed to give MSS the ability to innovate and develop new programs to drive Marin County to zero waste. If the pilot program is a success it will be expanded to include more service areas.
The collected food scraps and green waste will be ground and mixed at the Marin Resource Recovery Center. The mix will then be sent to Northern Recycling Compost in Zamora, CA, where it will be composted and then returned to MSS as “Marin’s Own” soil amendment. To increase efficiency, every measure will be taken to ensure that the transport trucks are filled in both directions.
MSS rolled out a pilot food compost program for restaurants and businesses in San Rafael in 2008. To expand into residential areas is a natural progression for MSS. Food scraps collected from businesses and restaurants are composted at MSS in a bio-cell that uses revolutionary carbon neutral in-vessel technology, which prevents the release of GHGs.
The resulting material from both ventures is an environmentally friendly nutrient-rich soil amendment. The soil amendment will be given away at MSS in May. Well-managed composting results in increased soil carbon storage, and end use of the soil amendment results in reduced demand for water, fertilizer and other soil inputs.
For resident inquiries please contact (415) 456-2601.
MSS, a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, has relentlessly pursued zero waste since its inception. Originally founding the first Scavenger’s Protection Association in 1920, the Garbarino family has always viewed its mission as reduce, reuse and recycle. MSS includes Marin Resource Recovery and the Marin Recycling Center. Together they serve Marin County’s recycling and refuse needs.
MEDIA ADVISORY
June 17, 2009
Unveiling of Unique Transportation/Sanitation Partnership
New Golden Gate Ferry Recycling Program Reduces Waste
Larkspur, CA – In a unique partnership, Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) and Golden Gate Ferry (GGF), an operating division of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, will unveil a new recycling program and partnership tomorrow at 10:45 AM at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. The partnership is the first of its kind for MSS and aims to divert even more waste from the landfill as part of MSS’s WasteNot Strategy.
Public transit helps to create a healthier environment by reducing smog-producing pollutants and greenhouse gases as it produces nearly 50 percent less carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide per passenger mile as private vehicles. Wanting to do their part, GGF now joins several other Bay Area ferry operators in providing a comprehensive onboard recycling program.
GGF has been reducing its environmental impact with various initiatives, and most notable, systematically replacing the engines on all of its vessels with new, more modern and efficient engines. Making recycling receptacles available on every ferry was the next logical step.
Ton for ton, recycling reduces more pollution, saves more energy and reduces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other activity except source reduction[1]. Greenhouse gas emissions avoided through MSS waste management practices are 19 times greater than the emissions it produces making it a carbon sink.
MSS, a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, has relentlessly pursued zero waste since its inception. MSS includes Marin Resource Recovery and the Marin Recycling Center. Together they serve Marin County’s recycling and refuse needs.
For Immediate Release
May 27, 2009
Marin Sanitary Service To Be Honored for Extraordinary Environmental Leadership
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Acterra, a leading environmental organization, announced today that Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) has won the prestigious 2009 Business Environmental Award, an honor awarded to Bay Area companies that have proven their commitment to the environment with their extensive and creative sustainability practices. Among other examples of environmental leadership, MSS has recycled more than 2.2 million tons of garbage since 1990, representing a reduction of almost 4 million metric tons of GHG emissions.
“Innovation and attention to recycling has been an integral part of our company since 1956, and we are honored to join other strong environmental leaders in receiving this award,” said Patty Garbarino, president of MSS. “We have grown by leaps and bounds, and more than half of the jobs at Marin Sanitary are dedicated to recycling – that shows that environmental stewardship is also good for the economy.”
Since 1990, Acterra’s Business Environmental Awards program has recognized over one hundred Bay Area businesses and academic and nonprofit organizations for excellence in environmental leadership. Winners, who have in the past included Adobe, Apple, HP, Roche-Palo Alto and Sun Microsystems, have made improvements in their operations that significantly reduce their environmental impacts, thereby benefitting all Bay Area residents. This year, MSS is recognized in the category of the 2009 Susanne Wilson Award for Pollution Prevention/Resource Conservation.
MSS is the driving force behind Marin’s exceptional recycling rate of 75 percent - higher than any county in the state and leading in the nation. This achievement has had a profound impact on the environment and the reduction of GHG emissions. To achieve ever-greater recycling rates, MSS has continually implemented innovative methods, technologies and programs including:
- Instituting the first countywide curbside recycling program in the nation.
- Opening the country’s first indoor dump to recover and recycle commercial, construction, and demolition waste.
- Developing the nation’s most sophisticated recycling technology, including a customized system of screens, conveyors, blowers, magnets, and manual sorting to separate dirt, sand, metal, wood, concrete, paper, and other materials; as well as sophisticated video scanning devices to identify harmful ceramics and sort and bale paper by type.
- Receiving, processing, and transforming large volumes of waste paper, bottles, cans, concrete, and more into market-ready products.
- Leading the field in hazardous waste landfill diversion and recovery.
- Launching a state-of-the-art user-friendly dual sort system to reduce recycling contamination and increase recycling rates. Before this system was put into place, more than 30 percent of the refuse sent to the landfill was contaminated paper.
- Opening an Environmental Classroom to better educate our community about the impacts of waste on natural resources, and user-friendly ways to reduce waste. MSS’s Education Coordinator takes Marin County’s students on facility tours year-round - in 2007 more than 2,600 people took the tour.
- Starting Marin County’s first business food waste collection and compost program that uses a revolutionary carbon neutral in-vessel technology to prevent the release of GHGs.
- Partnering with iReuse MSS aims to proactively engage more businesses in recycling by donating or selling reusable materials to local non-profit organizations.
- Sponsoring the Next Generation program that educates children across the county about solid waste and environmental values.
- MSS was the first independent garbage hauler to register, become verified and named a Climate Action Leader by the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR). According to the CCAR database, GHG emissions avoided through MSS waste management practices are 19 times greater than the emissions produced primarily from fleet vehicles.
Acterra is a non-profit organization with a 38-year history of environmental leadership and programming in and around Silicon Valley. Acterra’s events, resources and programs involve and educate individuals and communities about a broad range of environmental issues. For more information visit www.acterra.org.
Go to www.marinsanitary.com for more information on Marin Sanitary Service and its award-winning recycling program.
For Immediate Release
November 25, 2008
Marin Sanitary Service Wins Governor’s Top Environmental Leadership Award
SACRAMENTO – Today, Governor Schwarzenegger announced that Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) of Marin County has won the 2008 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) for its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction programs. Since 1990, MSS has recycled over 2.2 million tons of garbage, representing a reduction of almost 4 million metric tons of GHG emissions.
GEELA is the California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor. The award program recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership for voluntary achievements in conserving California’s resources, protecting and enhancing the environment, and building public-private partnerships.
“We have been dedicated to implementing innovative recycling technologies since 1956 so we are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said President of MSS, Patty Garbarino. “We have grown by leaps and bounds since then. Over half of the positions at Marin Sanitary are dedicated to recycling, proving that environmental stewardship is also good for the economy.”
MSS is the driving force behind Marin’s exceptional recycling rate of 75 percent - higher than any county in the state and leading in the nation. This achievement has had a profound impact on the environment and the reduction of GHG emissions. To achieve ever-greater recycling rates, MSS has continually implemented innovative methods, technologies and programs including:
- Instituting the first countywide curbside recycling program in the nation.
- Opening the country’s first indoor dump to recover and recycle commercial, construction, and demolition waste.
- Developing the nation’s most sophisticated recycling technology, including a customized system of screens, conveyors, blowers, magnets, and manual sorting to separate dirt, sand, metal, wood, concrete, paper, and other materials; as well as sophisticated video scanning devices to identify harmful ceramics and sort and bale paper by type.
- Receiving, processing, and transforming large volumes of waste paper, bottles, cans, concrete, and more into market-ready products.
- Leading the field in hazardous waste landfill diversion and recovery.
- Launching a state-of-the-art user-friendly dual sort system to reduce recycling contamination and increase recycling rates. Before this system was put into place, more than 30 percent of the refuse sent to the landfill was contaminated paper.
- Opening an Environmental Classroom to better educate our community about the impacts of waste on natural resources, and user-friendly ways to reduce waste. MSS’s Education Coordinator takes Marin County’s students on facility tours year-round - in 2007 more than 2,600 people took the tour.
- Starting Marin County’s first business food waste collection and compost program that uses a revolutionary carbon neutral in-vessel technology to prevent the release of GHGs.
- Partnering with iReuse MSS aims to proactively engage more businesses in recycling by donating or selling reusable materials to local non-profit organizations.
- Sponsoring the Next Generation program that educates children across the county about solid waste and environmental values.
- MSS was the first independent garbage hauler to register, become verified and named a Climate Action Leader by the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR). According to the CCAR database, GHG emissions avoided through MSS waste management practices are 19 times greater than the emissions produced primarily from fleet vehicles.
Award recipients are chosen in eight different categories based on their strength in eight specific areas including results, transferability, environmental impact, resource conservation, economic progress, innovation and uniqueness, pollution prevention, and environmental justice. MSS won the award for Climate Change for its innovative and forward thinking approaches to reducing GHG emissions and mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on public health and our vast natural resources.
MSS is one of only 21 other recipients that will accept awards at tonight’s ceremony in Sacramento.
The Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993. The award program is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency in collaboration with the State and Consumer Services Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
Go to [insert your web address] for more information about [insert program name]. For more information on GEELA and this year's award recipients, visit the Cal/EPA Web site: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Awards/GEELA/.
RECYCLING AT COUNTY FAIR COMES FULL CIRCLE
Marin Sanitary to Present Commission with Finished Product from Food Waste
San Rafael, CA -- Coming full circle in a process that started four months ago, Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) will present the Marin County Cultural Services Commission with more than 4 tons of compost, processed from waste collected at the 2008 Marin County Fair, to be used as a beneficial soil amendment for landscaping the fair gardens.
During the 2008 County Fair, the North Bay Conservation Corps, Good Green Graces, and Marin Sanitary Service collected 2.34 tons of pre-consumer waste, from cornhusks to avocado skins and 2.18 tons of compostable biodegradable paper plates, cups and utensils.
To kick off the presentation there will be a brief review of the compost process by MSS President Patty Garbarino followed by the presentation of materials to each member of the Commission.
MSS, a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, has relentlessly pursued zero waste since its inception. Originally founding the first Scavenger’s Protection Association in 1920, the Garbarino family has always viewed its mission as reduce, reuse and recycle. MSS includes Marin Resource Recovery and the Marin Recycling Center. Together they serve Marin County’s recycling and refuse needs.
MARIN RECYCLING CENTER GOES SOLAR
Cutting Edge Recycling Technology Gets Energy Make-Over
San Rafael, CA -- Marin Sanitary Service’s (MSS) cutting edge Marin Recycling Center is going solar today. There is a picture opportunity of the installation process until 3 p.m. MSS has led California and the nation by instituting innovative recycling technologies, driving Marin County to its precedent setting 76 percent diversion rate.
The Recycling Center’s three story recycling system of magnets, pulleys and video cameras is the largest consumer of energy at MSS. The new solar panels will provide energy to the complicated sorting system, and the transportation center.
Ton for ton, recycling reduces more pollution, saves more energy and reduces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other activity except source reduction. MSS was named a climate action leader by the California Climate Action Registry in 2007 for voluntarily reporting their greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The reporting shows that greenhouse gas emissions avoided through MSS waste management practices are 19 times greater than the emissions produced.
MSS, a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, has relentlessly pursued zero waste since its inception. Originally founding the first Scavenger’s Protection Association in 1920, the Garbarino family has always viewed its mission as reduce, reuse and recycle. MSS includes Marin Resource Recovery and the Marin Recycling Center. Together they serve Marin County’s recycling and refuse needs.
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2008
Marin Sanitary Announces Nine New Battery Recycling Sites in San Rafael
to Prevent Contamination of Soil and Groundwater
San Rafael, CA -- Marin Sanitary Service (MSS), in partnership with the City of San Rafael, is announcing new household hazardous waste pickup sites for batteries at all seven fire stations, the Downtown Library and soon the Pickleweed Community Center. MSS is launching this effort as a means to reduce the amount of heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead in our landfills. These and other harmful chemicals have the potential to leach from batteries and contaminate soil, groundwater, surface water and the ocean.
"Convenience is key to reducing waste in landfills. We started the nations first curbside recycling program because we wanted to make recycling as easy as taking out the trash,” said MSS President Patty Garbarino. “Our on-site Household Hazardous Waste Facility already accepts all hazardous waste including batteries but we are doing even more to reduce battery waste by providing San Rafael residents with drop sites closer to home.”
Americans buy nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries a year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools. All those batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. Mercury is a neurotoxin that damages the nervous system and cadmium is a heavy metal that causes kidney damage through chronic exposure.
“We want to do everything we can to help our customers keep these contaminants out of our soil and out of our groundwater,” said Operations Manager Steve Rosa. “We look forward to collecting full bins at every site.”
California has the most restrictive rules when it comes to disposing hazardous waste, especially batteries. In 2000 Cal/EPA adopted new regulations governing “universal waste,” common household waste that is hazardous to people or the environment, in attempt to prevent their disposal in regular trash. Batteries along with fluorescent light bulbs, thermostats, thermometers and electronic devices fall under “universal waste.”
MSS’s efforts to reduce battery waste in the landfill is just another step toward getting Marin County to zero waste. From its inception MSS has been at the cutting edge of recycling by:
- Creating one of the country’s most advanced systems for separating recyclables from waste going to the landfill;
- Increasing recycling rates by instituting the dual sort cart;
- Implementing the county’s first pilot food waste composting program.
The best way to reduce battery pollution is to reduce the use of batteries. Consumers can take the following steps to reduce and prevent household battery waste:
- Check to see if you already have the batteries on hand before buying more.
- Buy hand-operated items that function without batteries.
- Consider rechargeable batteries for some needs (but they also contain heavy metals).
New Battery Recycling Sites |
|
Drop off Site in San Rafael |
Location of Bin at Site |
Fire Station 1 |
Outside the front door |
Fire Station 2 |
Outside in the driveway alongside the storage shed |
Fire Station 4 |
Outside the front door |
Fire Station 5 |
Outside the front door |
Fire Station 6 |
Outside the front door |
Fire Station 7 |
Outside the front door |
Downtown Public Library |
Inside the front door |
Pickleweed Community Center |
Coming Soon |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2008
MARIN SANITARY TO ADDRESS
INTERNATIONAL FORUM
Showcase for MSS Zero Waste Innovation
San Rafael, CA -- Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) President, Patty Garbarino will address the “2008 WasteExpo” on her company’s groundbreaking zero waste efforts. The forum, which takes place this year in Chicago on May 5th, is North America’s largest solid waste and recycling tradeshow, drawing about ten thousand attendants annually.
In the session “Zero Waste: Inaccuracies and Realities” Ms. Garbarino will brief participants on systems and technologies MSS has pioneered to increase waste diversion and help Marin County move closer to zero waste.
MSS has led California and the nation in cutting recycling technology, driving Marin County to its precedent setting 76 percent diversion rate. At the tradeshow, Ms. Garbarino will guide conferees through MSS’s history of innovation, and best practices including:
- The nation’s first curbside recycling program
- The nation’s first indoor dump
- A cutting-edge three story recycling system of magnets, pulleys and video cameras
- A groundbreaking dual sort recycling cart system
- A pilot program for composting food waste
- An award winning Environmental Classroom, Public Education and Outreach Program to encourage greater recycling participation rates,
- State advocacy for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to reduce waste production at the source, where products are manufactured and packaged.
“Zero waste is not pie in the sky. Twenty years ago, most people thought we couldn’t reach 50 percent now our County recycles more than 75 percent of its waste.” said MSS President Patty Garbarino. “We are honored to be recognized as a national leader and look forward to a productive dialogue at the Expo on how our country can move to zero waste.”
Zero waste business principles are being pushed in the waste management sector as a means of greater sustainability with significant diversion rates. The goal of WasteExpo 2008 is to inform the industry of programs that are working, their impact on the waste collection and disposal industry, and how to respond to questions about zero waste.
MSS, a family owned and operated business for over 50 years, has relentlessly pursued zero waste since its inception. Originally founding the first Scavenger’s Protection Association in 1920, the Garbarino family has always viewed its mission as reduce, reuse and recycle. MSS includes Marin Resource Recovery and the Marin Recycling Center. Together they serve Marin County’s recycling and refuse needs.