Author: Joanna Rosales

Keep Compost Clean

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

Lawmakers in California saw an opportunity to curb the emission of climate-destructive gases at our landfills by requiring yard trimmings, food scraps, and food/beverage-soiled paper products to be composted instead of buried with the rest of our waste. In 2016, Senate Bill 1383 was passed requiring all residents and businesses to separate or divert their organic waste from their landfill waste with a dedicated green bin. RethinkWaste contracts with two California-based composting facilities to process everything from our neighborhoods and turn it into finished compost, a nutrient-rich soil additive that improves the health of the soil without the use of chemical fertilizers.

We are lucky to have access to a composting infrastructure that can process all kinds of green waste. Nationally there are over 3,000 composting facilities processing yard trimmings, but only about 200 of those facilities also accept food scraps. Many composters are skeptical about taking food scraps because of the expected contamination that comes with it. Food packaging is often not separated from the food itself and ends up in the feedstock, the material coming into a composting facility.

According to a 2024 report by the Composting Consortium, an industry collaboration led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, conventional plastic is the number one contaminant of compost feedstock at facilities accepting food scraps. Those facilities have costs associated with cleaning the material before it can be used to make healthy compost. Smaller facilities often rely solely on manual screening, while some larger facilities make use of screening equipment or technology, like AI. But any type of screening process takes extra time and money for the facility to carry out.

It is important for composting facilities to preserve the quality of their final product, the finished compost, because better compost preserves our environment as well as the composter’s revenue and reputation. Composting facilities are key players in the circular economy of our nation’s food, so as we move forward with diverting food scraps from landfills, it will be critical to support their operations.

The Composting Consortium’s report shows that even with current best practices and up to 95% contamination removal rates, 40% of the surveyed composting facilities still ended up with trace amounts of conventional plastic in the finished compost. That product is still sold and used on farmland, where microplastics may accumulate in the soil or get washed out to sea with stormwater. To determine what that means for the ecosystem and our own health we need more scientific study. For now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Organic Program (NOP) is not taking any chances and requires that compost and compost feedstock be exclusively made from plant and animal materials for certified organic farms.

With plastic so ubiquitous in our environment today, composting facilities are facing what seems like a daunting task when it comes to producing clean, healthy compost. It would be helpful for consumers to do their part and keep plastic out of their green bins, but even that can be difficult with all the different compostable and look-alike products made with conventional plastic out in the marketplace. What is promising is that institutions like the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) are working with packaging manufacturers to design features that help consumers reliably identify certified compostables. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, like Senate Bill 54, could also help provide the funds for composting facilities to expand their screening operations and clean up the contamination that comes in with food waste.

Clean composting would benefit the entire community by reducing methane emissions from the slow, unnatural breakdown of green waste at landfills and, instead, providing healthy compost to fertilize agricultural lands and beyond. Refer to your service guides and make sure you’re sorting your waste properly!  

Why California Moved Away from Waste Incineration

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

As a waste educator in California, one question we hear frequently, especially from curious students, is deceptively simple: “Why don’t we just burn our trash?” At face value, it’s a simple, solution-based question, but it’s one that deserves a thoughtful answer with historical context in California.

In the waste industry; however, no topic is as contentious and politically charged due to the harm caused by incinerators in the state. As our world adapts to new waste streams, and technology advances, incineration to energy deserves a historic and geographic review as we continue to navigate California’s waste trends, energy and land challenges for the years to come.

A Burning History

California’s relationship with waste incineration has evolved significantly over time. In the early-to-mid 20th century, small-scale incinerators were common in urban areas, seen as simple means of disposal that limited trash heaps from accumulating. However, as we learned that burning waste was contributing to air pollution, California began shifting away from incineration (CalEPA’s History of Environmental Excellence | CalEPA).

The 1970 Clean Air Act marked a turning point, establishing federal standards for air quality. Through the California Air Resources Board (CARB), established in 1967 as the first agency of its kind in the nation, California implemented even stricter regulations. CARB’s pioneering research and standards gradually led to the closure of most waste incinerators across the state. By the 1990s, only a handful of waste-to-energy facilities remained operational in California. By the end of 2024, the last two remaining solid waste incinerators were shut down.

The Environmental Justice Awakening

One of the initial compelling reasons for California’s shift away from incinerating waste comes from the stark disproportionate negative health impact on low-income communities. Studies documented how waste facilities, including incinerators, were disproportionately located in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, namely the United Church of Christ’s study: Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Distribution of  Environmental Hazards, which was one of the first studies to address the prevalence of dioxins in low-income neighborhoods.

In California, this pattern was unmistakable. Research by the Environmental Protection Agency consistently found that incinerator emissions —which include particulate matter, dioxins, furans, and heavy metals like mercury and lead— contributed to higher rates of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular problems, and certain cancers in surrounding communities.

Environmental justice advocates have worked toward shifting policy for equitable waste management approaches, which has sparked community-led movements over the years that successfully shut down California incinerators and helped shift state-wide policy toward more equitable waste management approaches.

Why Landfills?

California currently entrusts landfills for waste disposal; however, landfills are not without their own environmental obstacles. Landfills are major sources of methane, a greenhouse gas 28-36 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period (Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks | US EPA).

Despite California’s ambitious methane capture systems, these facilities still significantly contribute to the release of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is released as the biproduct of flaring methane to generate electricity. This creates a genuine environmental trade-off: while incineration produces air pollution affecting local communities, landfills are a large contributor to climate change through methane emissions. Both can be used to generate electricity, but neither solution exists without serious environmental concern.

Looking Abroad: Different Approaches

Many countries who are seen as environmental leaders have taken different approaches when it comes to waste management. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Japan have invested heavily in modern waste-to-energy facilities with advanced pollution controls (European Environment Agency). These countries lack land space for landfilling, creating a necessity to invent a safe incineration process that would not cause adverse health effects from pollution.

In Sweden, waste-to-energy plants provide heating for about 1.2 million households and electricity for another 800,000. Japanese facilities utilize sophisticated filtering technologies that dramatically reduce emissions compared to older incinerators. These countries have integrated waste-to-energy into comprehensive waste management systems that prioritize recycling and waste reduction first.

These international examples raise an important question: Could California adopt similar particulate filtering technologies while addressing environmental justice concerns? As our state faces growing electricity demands— particularly with the expansion of electric cars, devices, artificial intelligence and data centers that require enormous energy inputs, could waste-to-energy play a role in diversifying energy resources?

California’s Current Focus

California’s current focus is on zero-waste initiatives, enhancing recycling and composting programs, and landfill methane capture. California’s approach prioritizes waste reduction and the protection of vulnerable communities over possible energy recovery from waste.

What’s clear is that there are no simple solutions to our waste challenges. As we work toward a more sustainable future, we must balance social equity, environmental protection, and practical needs.

How To Get Involved

Learn about your local waste agency–RethinkWaste, attend public board meetings and share your thoughts with elected representatives. Look to your community for volunteer opportunities to work within environmental justice, and advocate for a sustainable future, with less waste and more reusing and recycling.

Climate Optimism

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

In 2025 it can be difficult to stay positive about the state of the environment. On March 12th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that many important environmental regulations are being rolled back to accommodate the current administration’s focus on promoting the fossil fuel industry. At a time when climate change is already impacting Californians due to increasing wildfires, it might be incredibly upsetting and discouraging to hear news about deregulating industries that cause massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. While sadness, anger, and outrage are all completely reasonable responses to the current state of affairs, it’s also important to remember not to fall victim to despair and apathy.

One could argue it’s more necessary than ever to take action to protect the environment in our communities and personal lives. The beauty of taking action is that it directly improves the issue and creates a feedback loop of climate optimism. The more we get involved in our communities, the more we realize our collective power, and the more motivated we become to continue to take action.

RethinkWaste staff are no strangers to working as a collective to address environmental issues. As a public  agency, we are committed to promoting sustainability through our various public outreach and education programs. It is nothing short of inspiring to work in a field where everyone is focused on achieving a shared goal and collective vision for the future. A few staff members share below what helps them stay positive:

“Seeing diversity in the environmental movement – it’s not just young people who care about creating a better future, it’s also a lot of elders who reach out to learn and make sure they’re doing the right thing.”

“Seeing children being excited about learning about waste and asking what they can do to help reduce their impact.”

“Seeing all the innovation and people developing new, creative solutions to the problems we face. Reuse stores, makers spaces, and implementing reusable foodware in stadiums and concert venues are just a few examples.”

As we work within our communities, the more we realize just how many people are passionate about working towards a better future. We encounter invested community members during tabling events who care deeply about properly sorting their waste, meet passionate students who are improving sustainability efforts on their school campuses, and connect with staff at related agencies around San Mateos County who are working each and every day to change systems and educate the public.

If you don’t know where to start, you’re reading the right blog post! Here are some ways you can take action today to create positive changes in your life or your community:

  1. Put your food waste in the compost and encourage others to do the same. Properly utilizing the compost bin actually makes a huge difference because you can help reduce methane (a greenhouse gas more toxic than carbon dioxide) emissions. When food waste breaks down in the landfill, it creates excessive methane emissions – putting landfills as the third highest source of methane emissions in the United States. Food waste accounts for 58% of these emissions.
  2. Start a reading group with friends, family, and/or neighbors. Educating yourself about environmental issues is the first step to finding their solutions. Reading in a community can also be helpful for processing any grief or anxiety that arises along the way and can be a great catalyst for action in the future.
  3. Research environmental action groups in your area. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when so many have started already. A quick search can connect you to plenty of groups that you can get involved in. You can also attend RethinkWaste community events to connect with like-minded people in the area!

While it’s understandable to feel sad and angry about the state of the world, once we start paying attention, we realize just how hopeful the future can be. Positive change is happening all around us, and we have the power to get involved and be the change we want to see in the world.

Are You Disposing of These 3 Items Correctly?

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

Whether you need to dispose of a cell phone, lights, or an old fry pan, we are here to help! Let’s take a deep dive into these three commonly tricky categories of items, how to dispose of them properly, and where you can bring them.

E-Waste

Examples include computers, monitors, printers, TVs, cell phones, headphones, smart watches, fax machines, VCRs, radios, etc.

Electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, is unwanted electronic devices. The United States is one of the largest e-waste generators in the world according to the Department of Toxic Substances Control. In 2022, about 15.8 billion pounds of e-waste was generated in the U.S. E-waste is considered hazardous waste, as they may contain hazardous materials such as lead and mercury. This means e-waste doesn’t belong in any of your three bins at home! If thrown into one of your three bins, they can be very dangerous and can even start fires in recycling facilities. Instead, e-waste can be dropped off at no charge at the Shoreway Public Recycling Center (PRC) in San Carlos. No appointment needed!

Lights

There are many different types of light bulbs and light tubes and some of them require safe disposal. Allow us to shed light on how to dispose of each type!

  • Halogen & Incandescent lightbulbs can be thrown in the black landfill bin, as they do not contain any hazardous materials (such as mercury). They can also be recycled, but at very few locations, none of which are in our service area. Visit RecycleStuff.org to find the nearest location.
  • Fluorescent lights contain mercury and therefore cannot go in the garbage. Instead, fluorescent lights and bulbs (including CFLs and up to 6 ft. for tubes) can be dropped off at the PRC.
  • LED lightbulbs and tubes can be dropped off at the PRC.
  • HID lights are considered hazardous waste and are only accepted through San Mateo County’s Household Hazardous Waste Program.
  • Neon Lights. Neon is not hazardous and can go into the garbage. If the lights have an electrical component with a plug, it could be considered e-waste. 

Scrap Metal

A lot of people know that metals can be recycled, but many don’t know that not every object made of metal should go into your blue recycling bin at home! Some of these objects need to be recycled separately because they pose a safety risk for facility workers and harm to the machines. Many metallic items can be recycled as “scrap metal” and dropped off at the PRC. Here are some examples:

  • Metal Utensils and Cookware: Metal utensils, pots, and pans can be recycled as scrap metal at the PRC and should NOT be put in the blue recycling bin. 
  • Non-stick Cookware: Can be recycled as scrap metal at the PRC even with the PTFE coating (often known as Teflon).
  • Parts (Car or Scooter): If there isn’t a battery and the part is all made of metal, then it can be accepted at our PRC.
  • Wire Hangers: Are ok to go to scrap metal at the PRC, but not in the curbside recycling bin as they will damage and jam the machinery at our recycling facility.
  • Chain-link Fence: Can go in scrap metal as long as there is no plastic cover.

Sometimes items may be too bulky to put in the scrap metal bin at the Public Recycling Center and may need to be disposed of alternatively. For example, a metal filing cabinet is large and bulky, so it cannot be placed in the scrap metal bin and should instead be taken to the Shoreway Transfer Station or saved for one of your yearly Bulky Item Collection pickups via Recology San Mateo County.

We know that recycling items may be tricky, which is why if you’re ever in doubt about if something can be recycled or not, you can always contact us to help! Feel free to email us or call us at (650) 802-3500. Happy recycling!

Seven Green Resolutions To Make Today

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

With a new year approaching, it’s natural to reflect on how we can improve both ourselves and the environment around us. What better way to start the new year with some practical ways to live a more environmentally conscious and sustainable life? One overall resolution can be to reduce your waste. The opportunity to reduce our waste shows up daily in many different ways! Whether it’s our buying, eating, or everyday habits, here are seven resolutions to adopt in the new year and beyond.

1. Refuse single-use plastic

Say “no thank you” to single-use straws, utensils, cups, and water bottles. Bring your own, and revel in the confidence of having on-hand cutlery that is the safest, most hygienic, and unique option.

2. Make reusables easily accessible

One way to set yourself up for success is to make reusables as easy to grab as possible. Put them in your car, backpack, purse, or other common location so you don’t even have to think about bringing them!

3. Rent

Ever need a sewing machine, toolbox, or seasonal gear like a snowboard or kayak? Consider renting! Libraries and sporting goods stores offer rental of these big-ticket items, so that we can use them only as needed. It’s convenient and there’s no need to figure out storage after use.

4. Refill

Instead of continuously accumulating packaging, try the practice of refilling! Bring your designated container or bag to refill laundry detergent, dish soap, or snacks at stores that offer refill options. Sporting goods stores even offer small refillable propane tanks for your portable cooking needs!

5. Rechargeable batteries

While batteries play a huge part in powering the many electronics that surround us, they also pose as a hazard since they are flammable. Reduce the amount of single-use batteries and opt for rechargeable, so we can all help in reducing the risk of battery fires.

6. Support local businesses, makers, and artists

Shopping at a small business not only boosts the local economy, but also lessens our environmental footprint. Supporting a local business, maker, or artist means a higher chance of buying products that were made or sourced from local materials, which means products didn’t travel hundreds of miles to get there.

7. Reuse what you have

Chances are, we already have everything we need in order to reduce waste. Reusable utensils, a cloth napkin, a reusable water bottle – they don’t have to be the newest or fanciest, the spirit of reuse is using what we already have.

It may seem daunting to reduce the waste we create, but let’s feel inspired by the new year and take action today by choosing resolutions that will contribute to both our society and a better environment. Taking small steps slowly builds the habit so that it eventually comes naturally to say no to unnecessary things in our lives that end up as waste. Start small and try one tip at a time – it takes some trial and error to get to a place where you find what works for you. Before you know it, the year will pass and you can look back and proudly say you didn’t use one single-use water bottle the whole year, or at least lessened the amount, which is great progress!  

Happy holidays and cheers to the new year, from all of us at RethinkWaste!

RethinkWaste’s In-Schools Program

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

RethinkWaste offers several different in-school education programs for schools in our service area to reduce their landfill waste. Our program provides all necessary infrastructure to implement recycling and composting at schools, as well as, educating students on how to properly sort their waste into the new bin system. In addition, we offer presentations that teach students the connection between waste and climate change and how their sorting choices can impact the environment’s health. We offer school-wide assemblies, lunch bin monitoring, new infrastructure, class presentations, and green team trainings. Let’s dive into the menu of the program we offer to schools and what they entail.

Full In-Schools Program

RethinkWaste’s full school program includes a site visit, new infrastructure, school-wide assemblies, and lunch bin monitoring. These parts take over the course of one school week with a site visit performed beforehand. The first step of the in-schools program is the site visit. A member of our Environmental Education team will go out to the school to assess what bins (compost and recycling or both!) and other waste-related infrastructure that are needed, and then will deliver the necessary infrastructure to the school. After the site visit, the education of proper sorting will begin when all the new bins are placed next to the existing landfill bins.

Our team then presents several school-wide assemblies for different grade levels to teach the students how to properly sort their lunch waste into the three bins (compost, recycling, and landfill). Assemblies include showing proper sorting using example items, explaining the connection between waste and climate change, and showing more steps students can take to improve the planet’s health. After the assemblies, students will usually have their lunch and get a chance to put into action what they just learned about sorting!

Typically, most of the waste created by students at school is created during lunchtime. Since most of the time students go from throwing all their waste into one landfill bin to now sorting it into three bins, RethinkWaste’s Environmental Education team members are present at the bin stations around the cafeteria to help students sort their waste properly as well as answer any of their questions about sorting. RethinkWaste team members typically lunch bin monitor every day at lunch during the week the new bins are introduced.

Class Presentations

We also offer smaller class-size presentations and demonstrations that include what items go in each bin, the relationship between waste and climate change, actions students can take to reduce waste, information about landfills, material recovery facilities (MRFs), and commercial composting facilities. Additionally, we have various waste-related games and activities that we can play with classes or can leave with teachers to facilitate afterwards.

Green Team Trainings

After the three-bin system has been implemented at a school, some schools elect to have a green team. A green team consists of student volunteers who help other students sort their waste and pick up garbage around the cafeteria during lunchtime. For green team trainings, our team will come to a school and go over proper sorting again with these students as well as cover best practices to help other students learn from their waste mistakes. We also will supply trash pickers so students can pick up waste in a safe manner and sort it into the proper bin. A green team is an amazing way for students who are interested in environmental topics to learn more about waste, help their community, build camaraderie with their fellow green team students, and have fun while doing it!

RethinkWaste is committed to helping school communities understand their agency in reducing waste and how small sorting actions can spur big environmental change. We believe schools play an integral part to reduce the waste in our service area and want to empower them to do that in any way we can!

Composting at Shoreway

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

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.

A Brief History of Garbage in California

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

California has paved the way in the modern world through its cutting-edge technology and rich cultural diversity. However, throughout its history, it has faced its fair share of waste management difficulties. The interesting journey of California’s waste story tells the state’s growth, struggles, and ultimate commitment to overall sustainability. How did California get to the green state that it is today?

During the Gold Rush, miners would often leave a trail of broken mining equipment and dangerous chemicals as they worked to extract gold from rivers and streams using simple tools and pans. While the Gold Rush increased California’s popularity and wealth, it also brought up the state’s first waste management issues.

Waste management became a growing problem as California’s cities grew during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As landfills grew and waste disposal practices became increasingly inconsistent and unsuccessful, environmental issues and public health risks appeared. Because early waste collection systems relied on horses and wagons, they contributed to pollution and unsanitary conditions.

Like the rest of the country, California started to create more organized waste management systems in the middle of the 20th century. The increasing use of automobiles led to advancements in garbage collection efficiency and the spread of the recycling movement. To lessen their negative effects on the environment, landfills and incinerator plants were given more regulations.

Recology Inc., previously known as Sunset Scavenger Company, utilized the iconic horse and wagon collection technique throughout the early 1920’s throughout California’s San Francisco neighborhoods. In later years, they utilized “open trucks.” Open trucks worked by collection workers picking up tiny garbage cans using a hook that hung off the shoulder, filled a larger aluminum 75-gallon container, and carried the full load to the garbage truck. The bags were then dumped and items like cardboard, bottles, rags, and newspapers were recovered for recycling. The garbage was then compacted in the vehicle by the workers jumping on it.

Images Courtesy of Leonard Stefanelli: Everything You Wanted to Know About “Garbage” but Were Afraid to Ask From The Argonaut – San Francisco Historical Society

A major turning point in California’s garbage history occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970 because of the environmental movement. These changes led to an increased concern for environmental protection and an impact on California’s waste management rules.

With the establishment of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the awareness of environmental problems, including garbage management, further increased. Californians started advocating for cleaner waste disposal methods, and the first recycling centers appeared in the state. The introduction of the “Rs” –“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” became a mantra, opening the door for a more environmentally friendly method of handling waste.

California continues to lead the standard for environmental innovation thanks to its innovative waste-to-energy methods like anaerobic digestion, which supports its environmentally friendly waste management strategies. Though waste management faced many difficulties in the beginning, California has made impressive progress in resolving its waste-related challenges. The state sets an outstanding example for others to follow with its dedication to sustainability, recycling, and minimizing its environmental impact. A cleaner and more sustainable future is possible, as long as California upholds the values of environmental responsibility and waste reduction.

Image courtesy of: ABC News “The real history of Earth Day and story behind the global eco-celebration by Faith Bernstein”

The Practice of Swapping

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

A swap is a community “marketplace” that doesn’t require the exchange of money, instead community members simply bring items that they don’t need any more to exchange for items that they could use from other participants. The more people involved, the more likely it is that everyone finds the things they’re looking for. RethinkWaste hosts swaps at annual events and local libraries to create opportunities for the community to come together, support changes in each other’s lives and our growing needs through the exchange of goods. Whether it be you’re celebrating another year of growth, embracing a new job, taking up a new activity or transitioning into a new home or school, we all experience times in our lives when we need to get rid of things or are in search of new things.

Lean on your community to lighten the load on your mind and your wallet; your neighbors might have just what you need or looking for. There’s no need for great stress or expense, so a swap is an easy way to get our gently used items a caring, new home.

The world is currently living in a  throw-away, single-use, fast-fashion society. The “out of sight, out of mind” mentality of previous centuries does not work anymore, as we have no more frontiers and increasing populations. What we dispose is even coming back to haunt us through different forms of pollution, be it microplastics, forever chemicals like PFAS, or greenhouse gases. If we care not to poison ourselves and our planet with our waste, we need to start rethinking our consumption habits and come together to rehome our things rather than tossing them and buying new ones.

Today’s society still pushes overconsumption by convincing consumers that we need to have the newest, the fastest, the shiniest, despite the environmental crisis our waste creates. Secondhand items are not sloppy seconds. It may take a little reframing of the mind to accept, so perhaps this analogy will help: secondhand items are like puppies at the shelter. Maybe they need some TLC, a wash, some grooming, but they still have so much potential to bring joy into your life. In the end, it’s all new to you and a certain pride comes with rescuing a thing too. Not everyone has the patience or the heart for rehabilitation, but perhaps you might find one of the following to be a motivator to exploring a swap:

  • Saving money
  • Building community
  • Living sustainably
  • Embracing a minimalistic lifestyle
  • Embracing a buy-nothing year
  • A love for fixing, tinkering, re-making, altering
  • Challenging outdated habits

Starting in 2023, RethinkWaste has hosted or collaborated with a library in our service area to hold swap events. Past themes have included:

  • Books, puzzles, and games
  • Clothing, shoes, and accessories
  • Items for children
  • Plants and pots

As one of the goals of the swaps is to reduce waste, the starting inventory for the events is sourced from staff, partners, and the community. Any shortcomings are filled through mindful thrift store purchases. Our final table displays draw in crowds of 100 to 200 people, some of them empty handed passersby. With plentiful stock we have the means to accommodate all our visitors and allow everyone to walk away with something new to them. The goal is to normalize the practice of swapping and reuse, so we see each event as an opportunity to engage with anyone curious enough to pop in. Hopefully, at the next one we’ll see familiar faces and a growing pool of patrons. Join us at an event this summer!

Pictured: All Things Kids Swap at the Downtown Redwood City Library
Pictured: Book, Puzzle, Game Swap at the Burlingame Library

Plastics Here, Plastics There, Microplastics Everywhere

Posted on by Joanna Rosales

Did you know that the plastic material that make up car tires and plastic cutting boards wears off? These tiny plastic particles, or microplastics, shed and enter the environment. For example, from your tire, rainwater washes tire microparticles from the street, into the storm drains, and out to the ocean. Those microplastics then end up in the seafood we consume. You may also ingest the cutting board microplastics with the food you cut up, or you may wash them down the drain and they’ll eventually enter the sewer system. After treatment, microparticle-rich sewage sludge is applied as fertilizer to agricultural land, where it comes into contact with crops and disrupts terrestrial eco-systems maintaining the fertility of the soil.

Studies of the effects of microplastics on living organisms, including humans, have emerged in recent years, but the growth of this knowledge is in its infancy. More data is needed to define the full scope of the problem and guide the development of protective measures. Unlike other waste, plastic will never fully degrade. It will only break down into smaller and smaller particles that will continue to permeate our environment indefinitely. The more plastic we use in our everyday lives, the more we add to the pollution, change our landscape, and affect the life existing within it.

In 2022, scientists first confirmed that plastic particles were detectable in the blood of donors from the general public. This means that the microplastics we internalize through ingestion, or otherwise, are not all cleared from the body, but remain in the blood available for uptake by cells and tissues of the organs. According to the same study, one of the more populous particles found floating in the blood samples was styrene. The National Toxicology Program listed styrene as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” in its 2011 annual Report on Carcinogens. In 2016, styrene was added to the well-known Prop 65 list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer.

Microplastics have spread throughout our environment and into our bodies, and we know that they have the potential to cause harm. What we have yet to do is connect all the dots and discover just how deeply the degradation of the 8,300 megatons of plastic produced since WWII will affect us and our planet. The 10% of plastic that is recycled globally will also eventually end up discarded, since plastic cannot be infinitely recycled.

You might be wondering why the recycling rate for plastic is so low. While you may put great effort into collecting all your plastic containers in the blue bin, the reality is that the collection of those items does not guarantee their recycling. Waste management agencies, like RethinkWaste, SORT the items from the bins, but downstream of that there needs to be companies interested in buying the materials for remanufacturing purposes. Depending on the state of the economy, this interest will fluctuate. In the RethinkWaste service area today, plastic #1-7 is collected, but we are only able to sell #1-2 containers. The rest of the plastic materials will go to landfill, until the markets shift.

As individuals, we can do our part to mitigate the current limitations by refusing, reducing, and reusing plastic products as well as supporting legislation that aims to regulate the full plastics lifecycle with its production from fossil fuels, its use by consumers and business, and finally, its disposal. As a consumer, we also have the power of choice:

  • Take a train, bus or carpool to minimize tire tread microparticles on the streets;
  • Use natural products like wooden cutting boards and cooking spoons to minimize the amount of microparticles washed down the drain;
  • Wear clothes made of cotton, wool, or silk, rather than synthetics, like polyester, nylon, and acrylic to further minimize the microparticles entering our water supply;
  • Purchase products in glass or metal over plastic containers, since, unlike plastic, glass and metal are infinitely recyclable.

Help stop the spread of microplastics everywhere! Advocate for yourself and your environment by NOT choosing plastic.

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