Download and print signs to help you start recycling more today!
MSS Customer Service Representative
Apply before 5pm on May 22, 2013.
Do you participate in residential curbside composting?
Yes - 86.9%
No - 13.1%
Total votes: 390
The voting for this poll has ended on: 31 Dec 2012 - 00:00
What Goes in Your Three Carts
Curbside Collection Guidelines
Click on the cart contents or cart to learn more about what can go into each container.
Marin County has a Zero Waste goal to divert 94% of all materials from the landfill. Creating less waste and recycling more materials are keys to the success of this goal.The GRAY cart is for the curbside collection of non-recyclable and non-compostable items. All items placed in this can go directly to the landfill!
Please no dirt, rock, ashes, or concrete in your gray cart!
If you have these items, please contact MSS about renting a debris box or bring them to the Marin Resource Recovery Center--the in-door dump!
Dual Sort Recycling
State-of-the-art, user-friendly carts and specialized trucks reduce recycling contamination and increase recycling rates. The carts separate glass, cans, and plastics from paper in order to prevent clean, dry paper from becoming soiled by residues left on other recyclables. Before this system was adopted, more than 30 percent of the refuse still sent to the landfill was contaminated paper. Paper recycling also results in increased carbon sequestration by forests since fewer trees need to be harvested for wood and paper products. Read more about what goes in your DUAL SORT cart.
Click here to learn more about proper sorting of paper recyclables (207.69 kB 2013-02-16 17:32:27)
Click here to learn more about proper sorting of paper recyclables (178.84 kB 2013-02-16 17:33:26)
Yard Waste/Food Scrap Composting
The food scraps composting program is essential to reducing Marin County's waste to zero and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Twenty five percent of the food prepared in the U.S. each year is thrown in the garbage– approximately 96 billion pounds! In landfills, food scraps decompose releasing methane, a greenhouse gas twenty times more potent than CO2.
The program allows participating residents to put food scraps in their green carts with yard waste. The food scraps are collected weekly to be ground up with yard waste on site at MSS. The mixture is then transported to a specialized organic composting site in Zamora, CA, where it will be composted using state-of-the-art technology to prevent the release of harmful greenhouse gasses. The result is a rich organic soil amendment that is distributed to the local agricultural community, completing the circle from food to farm to food. The compost can be purchased at American Soil. Read more about what goes in the GREEN cart by clicking here.