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RESOURCE RECOVERY
REVOLUTION
How Marin Sanitary Service turns waste into highly valuable resources
With a history stretching back 75 years, Marin Sanitary Service has been at the cutting edge of recycling and food waste solutions while also pushing towards a zero-waste world at the same time. Joe Garbarino, Co-Founder of the company, was a pioneer in many respects. Beginning his business hauling burlap sacks full of waste on his back across the steep hills of San Francisco, he could see the recycling potential that waste offered from the start.“ He was a maverick,” Justin Wilcock, COO, explains.“ He implemented the first county-wide curb side recycling program, which heavily influenced national policy, and operated the first indoor sorting and recovery facility for construction debris. These innovations established us as leaders in recycling and resource recovery across the country and the world.”
Today, Marin Sanitary Service provides residential and commercial waste collection, recycling, and composting via four key divisions: Marin Sanitary Service, which is the collection arm of the company, the Marin Recycling Center, which sorts and bales recyclables, the Marin Resource Recovery Center, which processes nonhazardous construction and demolition debris materials, and a Household Hazardous Waste Facility which accepts oil, paint, batteries, and other hazardous wastes, including e-waste materials.
“ We have been introducing innovation in food waste collection for over ten years, but it was only in 2022 when California legislated for food waste collection,” continues Justin.“ Our commercial food waste program, which we call Food 2 Energy, is far ahead of the curve,
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