Every day at our Shoreway Transfer Station in San Carlos we receive roughly 740,000 pounds (370 tons) of organic material, a.k.a. compost! When you toss compostable materials (such as food scraps, yard trimmings, and food-soiled paper) into your green compost bin at work or home, it goes either to Newby Island in Milpitas or Blossom Valley Organics North, in Vernalis, CA. At these composting facilities, it takes about three months for materials to break down into nutrient-rich, finished compost. Some of this compost will make its way back to the Shoreway Transfer Station. And if you’re a resident in the RethinkWaste service area, you can pick up this compost at no-cost year-round to use in your gardens and houseplants. See below for details about how you can pick up free compost!
Back in 2016, California Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) was signed into law to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, including setting targets to reduce the amount of compost material in landfills. Proper sorting of food scraps, yard trimmings, and soiled paper products increases the lifespan of landfills, saving the public land and reducing the injection of methane into the atmosphere (methane traps heat 80 times more effectively than CO2). By 2025, SB 1383 aims to reduce the amount of compostable material in landfills by 75% and to rescue at least 20% of currently wasted edible food for human consumption. This law is an important driver for increasing awareness and effectiveness of composting in our area!
Helping the entire state of California learn composting, however is a huge under-taking. Especially when local jurisdictions may require slightly different rules to follow from one another based off of what type of industrial composting system their waste ends up going to. There are still some items labeled as “compostable” plastics that are not breaking down at the compost facilities. To help, we encourage households to use paper bags, paper towels or newspapers to line their kitchen compost pails or when collecting compostable materials, instead of a plastic bag liner. The kitchen pails available by Recology are dishwasher safe (just avoid the head dry setting), so they can be rinsed out if you choose to not line them. If you must use compostable liners or compostable bags, bags must have the BPI logo, otherwise the bags will not break down and can result in lower quality compost.
At our Shoreway Transfer Station, the compost can be spotted easily as the big green pile filled with yard trimmings, food scraps, and food & beverage soiled paper and is already rapidly breaking down.
Tiny microorganisms are at work eating this material, breaking it down and making heat visible through steam. Visitors on our tours are quick to spot the steam which rises from the massive pile, often being pointed out as “smoke.” To make sure dust settles and that the pile doesn’t get too hot, water sprinklers above the compost pile keep it contained and moist.
Also spotted at the Shoreway Transfer Station is our Organics-to-Energy pilot program. This Organics Extrusion Press (called OREX Press) is a collaborative effort between San Mateo County and RethinkWaste that has the power to extract 50 – 70 tons of organic material daily to be used for energy, that would otherwise end up in a landfill or compost facility. The extracted material is put through a bag-opener (due to the high amount of commercial and personal use of plastic liners), and then transformed into a slurry, or rich organic material which can be used as a clean alternative to natural gas, making it a two-problem solution both to clean energy generation and waste reduction. Join us on a tour to see everything up close in person!
Compost pick-up details:
For residents:
- Location: Shoreway Transfer Station 333 Shoreway Rd., San Carlos. Enter via Gate 1
- Hours:
- Monday – Friday: 6:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.
- Saturday – Sunday: 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
- Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day
- Proof of Residency: Bring a form of identification or a utility bill for our service area
- Limit: Residents can take up to two 50-lb bags of finished compost each week (limit two bags per visit)
- Loading: Bags and shovels are provided, but residents must load the compost themselves
- Note: This service is for residents only, not for commercial use
For Schools and Community Groups
Schools, gardens, and community groups within the RethinkWaste service area can also benefit from free compost. They can either pick up compost or have it delivered. Here’s how:
- Pick-Up: Schools and community groups can pick up as many as five 50-lb bags from the Shoreway Environmental Center.
- Delivery: For larger quantities (between 10-20 cubic yards), schools and groups can request delivery with two weeks’ notice.
Fill out our request form for schools and community groups here.
Composting is a fantastic way to reduce methane emissions from landfills and allows residents and farms to grow new plants with nutrient-rich finished compost. Supported by California legislation and individual participation, composting reduces waste, creates a circular economy, and reduces the amount of compostable material in landfills.