California District Gets MRF Funding

San Mateo County’s SBWMA raises $53 million with sale of bonds.

Published September 04, 2009

The South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), San Carlos, Calif., says it has closed the sale of $53.5 million in tax-exempt solid waste revenue enterprise bonds and paid off existing tax-exempt debt of $13.7 million. Net proceeds from the transactions, along with a $3 million loan from the City of Burlingame, will be used to transform the existing Shoreway Recycling and Disposal Center in San Carlos into what the authority is calling the “Shoreway Environmental Center, California’s Greenest Recycling Center and Transfer Station.”

 

According to an SBWMA news release, from September 2009 through spring of 2011, a series of capital projects will be completed in its waste district, located south of San Francisco, including:

  • A 70,200-square-foot new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) building will handle an increase of more than 20,000 tons per year in recyclables from residential and commercial customers. New sorting and processing equipment will handle single-stream recyclables from residential and commercial customers. The new MRF building will replace an existing 48,000-square-foot building.
  • A 14,780-square-foot expansion of the existing 62,000-square-foot transfer station to allow for a 30,000-tons-per-year increase in organic materials such as plant materials and food scraps.
  • Green building features such as use of solar (photovoltaic) panels to generate renewable energy to power site operations, rainwater capture and reuse, translucent panels to maximize day-lighting, use of native plants and low water use plants, among others.
  •  The MRF and transfer station buildings will have dedicated space for visitors to view facility operations. Space will also be set aside for an environmental education center for children.
  • New scale house and related traffic patterns will be designed to make it safer and easier for customers to use the facility.
  • New Public Recycling Center to consolidate all public recycling services into one convenient, safer location with a separate entrance off Shoreway Road.

 

The SBWMA says it also has sold its existing dual-stream recycling equipment to Oregon-based Far West Fibers for $250,000.

 

“With financing secured, our old debt paid off and interim site operations initiated, we are off to a great start to fulfill our promise to deliver expanded and more convenient recycling and solid waste collection services for the 400,000-plus residents in our service area by Jan. 1, 2011,” says Kevin McCarthy, executive director of the SBWMA.

 

The SBWMA owns the current Shoreway facility, which receives recyclables, organic materials, and solid waste collected in its service area. The facility consists of a permitted 3,000-tons-per- day solid waste transfer station and MRF. The SBWMA purchased the facility for $19.2 million from Allied Waste of San Mateo County in 2000.

 

Formed in 1982, the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) is a joint powers authority of twelve member agencies in San Mateo County, Calif. More information about the authority can be found at www.RethinkWaste.org.

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