All visitors are strongly recommended to wear a face covering and observe all local mandated physical distancing measures and mask guidelines while on site.
The Shoreway Environmental Center, California’s Greenest Recycling Center and Transfer Station, serves as a national model for sustainable building practices and innovative recycling and material handling operations.
Residential and commercial solid waste and recyclable materials that are collected by the franchise hauler, Recology San Mateo County, are taken to Shoreway for processing and shipment. The facility is owned by RethinkWaste and operated by South Bayside Industries (SBI).
The Shoreway Environmental Center functions as an integrated campus with separate buildings used as follows:
Recology San Mateo County Offices
Recology San Mateo County (Recology) is the franchised waste hauler for the RethinkWaste service area. Recology is responsible for collecting recycling, organics and garbage from 93,000 residences and 11,000 businesses on a weekly basis in the 12 Member Agency service area that spans from Burlingame to East Palo Alto. They deliver the materials to the Shoreway Environmental Center for processing by RethinkWaste’s contractor, South Bayside Industries.
Recology has its administrative offices located at Shoreway at 225 Shoreway Road, and is open to the public for bill payments and customer questions. Recology’s offices are accessible through Gate 3. Recology’s operations yard is also located at Shoreway.
South Bayside Industries (SBI) Offices
South Bayside Industries (SBI) is the contractor hired by RethinkWaste to operate the Shoreway Environmental Center, which includes the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), Transfer Station and Public Recycling Center (PRC). SBI is also responsible for delivering materials to their next destination: organic waste to Blossom Valley Organics in Vernalis and Newby Island in San Jose, landfill waste to Ox Mountain Landfill in Half Moon Bay, construction and demolition (C&D) waste to Zanker Recycling in San Jose, and recyclable waste to domestic and international markets. SBI took over managing the Shoreway operations January 1, 2024 after the conclusion of RethinkWaste’s contract with South Bay Recycling (SBR) from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2023.
SBI, which operates the Shoreway Environmental Center on behalf of RethinkWaste, has its administrative offices housed in the MRF building. SBI’s operations yard is also located at Shoreway.
The site operations are regulated by a number of local and State agencies with regular facility inspections. The facility is separately permitted by the CalRecycle to receive 3,000 tons per day of solid waste and recyclables.