CRRA Honors RethinkWaste

RethinkWaste, San Carlos, Calif., has been recognized by the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) for having the “Outstanding HHW/U-/E-Waste” program.

According to a RethinkWaste news release, the agency was honored for “programs and services [it] offers to residents in its service area for properly managing their household hazardous waste (HHW), universal waste (U-Waste) and electronic waste (E-Waste).” The award was presented in early August at the 2011 CRRA Statewide Conference & Tradeshow near San Diego.

Among RethinkWaste’s program features cited by the CRRA were:

•     door-to-door HHW collection program for residents in eight of the agency’s 12 member districts;
•     the curbside household battery and cell phone recycling program; and
•     seasonal community electronic scrap recycling events.

“RethinkWaste has taken a leadership role in developing several key programs designed to make it extremely convenient and economically feasible for residents to properly and safely manage their HHW, U-Waste, and E-Waste items,” says Kevin McCarthy, executive director of RethinkWaste. “We are very excited to be recognized for our efforts by CRRA and look forward to continuing to work with our member agencies on future programs.”

From May 2010 through June 2011, ReThink says that about 220,000 pounds of HHW material, 71,000 pounds of U-Waste and 73,000 pounds of E-Waste have been properly collected and managed through the door-to-door program.

The firm adds that around 212,000 pounds of household batteries and cell phones have been collected and recycled through its curbside program since October 2007.

The nearly 20 community electronics recycling events held by RethinkWaste in its service area have resulted in more than 343,000 pounds of computers, televisions and other electronics being collected and recycled.

Formed in 1982, RethinkWaste is a joint powers authority comprised of 12 member agencies (Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, the County of San Mateo and the West Bay Sanitary District) in San Mateo County, Calif. RethinkWaste owns and manages the Shoreway Environmental Center in San Carlos that includes a permitted solid waste transfer station and a recycling processing facility. More information on RethinkWaste can be found at www.RethinkWaste.org.