South Bayside Waste Management Authority (RethinkWaste)

RethinkWaste is a joint powers authority of twelve public 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, California and is a leader in the delivery of innovative waste reduction and recycling programs. RethinkWaste owns and manages the Shoreway Environmental Center which receives all of the recyclables, organics, and garbage collected in its service area. RethinkWaste also provides strategic oversight, support and management of service providers that collect, process, recycle and dispose of materials for the 12 Member Agencies. RethinkWaste, also known as the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) was formed in 1982.

The primary goal of RethinkWaste is to provide cost effective waste reduction, recycling, and solid waste programs to member agencies through franchised services and other recyclers to meet and sustain a minimum of 50% diversion of waste from landfill as mandated by California State Law, AB 939. As of January 1, 2011, Recology San Mateo County (Recology) provides Recycle, Compost and Garbage collection services for the 93,000 RethinkWaste residences and 10,000 businesses.

RethinkWaste is led by an Executive Director, Joe La Mariana, who reports to a Board of Directors comprised of elected officials from our Member Agencies. Our offices are located in the San Carlos library building. We also share staff with the City of San Carlos including using the city’s Finance and Accounting Department.

RethinkWaste owns the Shoreway Environmental Center in San Carlos, and is operated by South Bay Recycling (SBR) on behalf of our Agency. The Shoreway Environmental Center is located at 333 Shoreway Road, San Carlos on the east side of Highway 101, in between the Holly Road and Ralston Avenue exits.

Shoreway serves as a regional solid waste and recycling facility for the receipt, handling and transfer of refuse, recyclables and organic materials collected from the RethinkWaste service area (southern and central San Mateo County). Residential and commercial solid waste recyclable and organic materials that are collected by the franchise hauler, Recology, are taken to the Shoreway Environmental Center for processing, staging and shipment.