Waste Zero - Recology

Recology: A World Without Waste

Waste zero is more than just a goal for the communities in which we work – it’s a goal for ourselves; especially in how we work and with whom we partner. Recology has taken significant measures as a company to work toward waste zero. Want to get there with us? See how we’re changing our behavior, and reach out to schedule a waste audit. Let’s get there together.

How We Work to Achieve Waste Zero

Recycled Materials
Efficient Appliances
Renewable Energy
Recycling & Composting Systems
Clean Commuting

Whenever possible, Recology uses recycled materials to build and maintain each of our offices. Our San Francisco office has a kitchen floor of recycled cork, Recology Portland painted their building exterior with recovered paint, and we use various recovered materials and paints for our restoration and volunteer events. And of course, we have art from Recology Artists in Residence throughout.

We regularly implement energy-efficiency upgrades throughout our facilities, like automatic lighting controls, energy-efficient water fixtures, and automatic shut-off systems at our truck wash bays.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is used to heat our offices, and CNG also powers many of our trucks, thereby reducing both emissions and noise levels. Our Pier 96 recycling facility is also 30% powered by solar panels.

To better facilitate recycling within our offices, we have labeled bins throughout all of our buildings. Our waste zero onboarding program also lets new employees know about waste disposal, helping inspire good recycling behaviors from the start.

For employees who commute, we encourage the use of public transportation, shared transport, or bike-riding to work – Eligible employees can pay commuter costs on a pre-tax basis, and Recology covers 50% of commuter costs up to an allowable maximum.

Partnering with Communities

Recology sees communities as partners. If we don’t work together to determine how to reach waste zero, it simply won’t work.

Every community is unique and faces different challenges when it comes to recycling, compost, and landfill collection. We understand these nuances, so after conducting a thorough waste audit to better understand existing recycling programs, we work with businesses and communities to identify areas for improvement. Our partnerships with municipalities and commercial customers have yielded some of the industry’s greatest diversion successes.

A Case Study with Promontory Point

PromontoryPt

Apartment Complex
Foster City, CA

WHAT: A multi-family dwelling with 90 units, totaling three separate buildings
WASTE AUDIT RESULTS: Recology found that 30% of residents’ organic waste was being placed in landfill carts.
RECOMMENDATION: Implement and increase organics services, and decrease garbage service. This means providing more green bins and decreasing the number of black bins.
RESULT: Landfill service decrease from 60% to 38%, along with their bill!

2012 Diversion rate: 40%
2016 Diversion rate: 62%