Our speaker for November 21, 2024, was Cole Yoxall of Recology Sonoma Marin. Cole is a Waste Zero Specialist. He helps develop recycling and composting programs, and does site visits to restaurants, schools, apartment buildings, and others to assist with their waste flows. He also provides education, staff training and resources on Recology’s programs. He graduated from Seattle University with a degree in psychology. He joined Recology in 2023 and previously worked for Sonoma County Resource Recovery.

Recology’s roots go back to San Francisco. Recology Sonoma Marin began operating in 2017. It currently has 460 employees and 155,000 customers, and is employee owned. Recology has a long-developed business model for diverting wastes ( including recycling materials and compost), from landfills, going back to the days when customers put their recyclables into plastic boxes on the street. It currently hauls garbage, recycles, composts, and does construction hauling and street sweeping in various cities in Sonoma and Marin counties. Its mission is eliminate waste by developing and discovering sustainable resource recovery practices. Recology seeks to do this by segregating compostable materials and recyclable materials from the waste stream entering the state’s landfills.

As to compostables, California’s Assembly Bill 1383 requires local jurisdictions to provide organic waste collection services to all residents and businesses. The goal is to reduce organic waste disposal by 75% by 2025. Organic waste materials cause the release of methane gases in landfills. Methane is a major contributor to climate change. Residents are required to segregate compostable materials, including nearly all food scraps, into green waste containers. This material is treated and sold to agricultural businesses.

Recyclables include paper products, metals, glass (not including drinking glasses), and rigid plastic containers (not including flimsy plastic bags). These materials are shipped to Recology’s materials recovery facility where they are sorted, baled, and sold to manufacturers to be turned into new products and reused. Recology has upgraded its Standish Avenue facility to allow it to process 400 tons per day. Recology has an 85% recovery rate, one of the highest in the nation! Recology does not accept hazardous wastes, such as oils, paints, batteries, or electronic materials. Zero Waste Sonoma handles those wastes at the county landfill and at various other locations on specified days.

Cole also mentioned that Recology’s website has a complete list of what wastes should be composted, recycled, or sent to the landfill. Our thanks to Cole for the important presentation. His presentation answered many important questions about what waste goes in what container!

Click HERE to view a limited time recording of Cole's informative presentation.

On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.

Thanks for all the great pictures Warren! Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!