California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)

"Innovations" Case Studies: Food Waste Recovery

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Contacts

City and County of San Francisco Recycling Program
Solid Waste Management Program
1145 Market Street, Suite 410
San Francisco, CA 94103
Contact: Jack Macy, Organics Recycling Coordinator
(415) 554-3423; Fax (415) 554-3434

Applied Compost Consulting, Inc.
now with Cascadia Consulting Group
3141 Lewiston Avenue, Suite B
Berkeley, CA 94705
Contact: Steven Sherman, Senior Manager
(510) 773-2776, Fax (206) 343-9819
www.cascadiaconsulting.com

Sunset Scavenger Company
Tunnel Avenue & Beatty Road
San Francisco, CA 94134
Contact: Bob Besso, Recycling Program Manager or
Joseph La Mariana, Sales & Marketing Manager
(415) 330-2960, Fax (415) 330-1372

Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling Company
900 Seventh Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Contact: Chris Levaggi, Commercial Recycling Manager
(415) 575-2437, Fax (415) 553-2905

City of Berkeley
1201 Second Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Contact: Debra Kaufman, Recycling Program Manager
(512) 644-8891 x224

City of Berkeley
1201 Second Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Contact: Rogelio Marquino, Recycling Operations Supervisor
(512) 644-8891 x222

County of Santa Cruz Recycling Programs
701 Ocean Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 454-2373, Fax (831) 454-2385
Contact: Jeffrey Smedberg
E-mail: recycle@co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Organic Recyclers Anonymous
236 Sheldon Avenue,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Contact: Karin Grobe
Phone/Fax: (831) 427-3452

Skills Center Worm Farm
2685 Mattison Lane
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Contact: Andrea Tolaio, Project Manager
(831) 476-6501 x120

City of San Jose Environmental Services Department
Integrated Waste Management Program
777 North First Street, Suite 450
San Jose, CA 95112
Contact: David Krueger
(408) 277-4066

Public Services Department
300 North D Street
San Bernardino, CA 92418
Contact: Michelle Dyck, Commercial Waste Reduction & Pollution Prevention Coordinator
(908) 384-5145 x3162

California BioMass
10397 Alder Avenue,
Bloomington, CA 92316
Contact: David Hardy
(909) 875-6441, Fax (909) 875-6445

Community Recycling and Resource Recovery
P.O. Box 1082
Sun Valley, CA 91352
Contact: Roger van der Wende, Marketing Director
(818) 767-6000

City Organics
149 W. Hendy Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94066
Contact: Vince Bosnar
(408) 245-4712

CalRecycle Contacts

To locate CalRecycle contacts for food waste diversion, access the Search page of Cal/EPA's staff directory, then type "Food" in the Search box, select "Assignments," and select "Search."

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Compost Sites Permitted to Accept Food

Note: The CalRecycle provided some of the contacts below. Other sites may also exist. The number enclosed in parentheses is the facility ID number in the CalRecycle's Solid Waste Information System.

Folsom MRF & Composting (34-AC-0002)
560 East Natoma St.
Folsom, CA 95630
Contact: Tim Linn, (916) 355-0151

Community Recycling Composting Facility (15-AA-0307)
10440 Tuxford St.
Sun Valley, CA 91352
Contact: Thomas Fry, (818) 767-2779

San Joaquin Composting (15-AA-0287)
P.O. Box 5, 12421 Holloway Road
Lost Hills, CA 93249
Contact: J. Scott Deatherage, (805) 797-2914

B&J Landfill Composting (48-AA-0083)
6426 Hay Road
Vacaville, VA 95687
Contact: Chris Choate

Z-Best Compost (in Gilroy) (43-AA-0015)
625 Charles Street
San Jose, CA 95112
Contact: Grey Ryan, (408) 277-6868

Newby Island Compost (in San Jose) (43-AN-0017)
1601 Dixon Landing Road
Milpitas, CA 95035
Contact: Gill Cheso, (408) 262-1401

California BioMass Composting (in Thermal) (33-AA-0259) and
Victor Valley Regional Composting (in Victorville) (36-AA-0403)
10397 Alder Ave.
Bloomington, CA 92316
Contact: David Hardy, (909) 875-6441

Gilton Resource Recovery Composting Facility (in Modesto) (50-AA-0016)
1722 Mono Drive
Modesto, CA 95354
Contact: Eugene Gilton, (209) 527-3781

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Resources

CalRecycle Publications

Many CalRecycle publications are available on CalRecycle’s website.

To order hard copy publications: call 1-800-CA-Waste (California only) or (916) 341-6306, or write:

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)
Public Affairs Office,
Publications Clearinghouse (MS-6)
1001 I Street
P.O. Box 4025 (mailing address)
Sacramento, CA 95812-4025

CalRecycle Website information:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Fact Sheets

  1. Don’t Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste Reduction, (EPA-530-F-98-023, 1998). Available on U.S. EPA's Wastes publications page or by calling the RCRA hotline at 1-800-424-9346.
  2. WasteWi$e Tip Sheets: Managing Food Scraps as Animal Feed (EPA-530-F-96-037); and Donating Surplus Food to the Needy (EPA-530-F-96-038). Available on U.S. EPA's Wastes publications page. Also, both are available free from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1-800-490-9198.

Other Resources

  1. BioCycle: Journal of Composting & Recycling, published by JG Press, Inc., (610) 967-4135. In particular, see Steven Sherman and Leana Schelvan, “Food Residuals Recovery in California,” BioCycle, September 1999; and Jack Macy, “San Francisco Takes Residential Organics Collection Full-Scale,” BioCycle, February 2000.
  2. Food Donation: A Restaurateur’s Guide (52 pages), available for $3.95 from the National Restaurant Association, 1200 17th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-3097, 1-800-482-9122.
  3. Jean Bonhotal and Karen Rollo, Compost: Because a Rind is a Terrible Thing to Waste. Available from The Resource Center, PO Box 3884, Ithaca, NY 14852. (607) 255-2080, E-mail: resctr@cornell.edu.
  4. A Guide to Commercial Food Composting, Composting Council Research and Education Foundation, 4424 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 102, Bethesda, MD 20814. (301) 913-2885.
  5. Skills Center Worm Farm and Organic Recyclers Anonymous, Industrial Size Worm Bin Vermiculture System (1999). Available from Jeffery Smedberg, County of Santa Cruz Recycling Programs, 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. (831) 454-2373, Fax (831) 454-2385, E-mail: recycle@co.santa-cruz.ca.us.

  6. The publications below are available from Flowerfield Enterprises, 10332 Shaver Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49024, (616) 327-0108, Fax (616) 327-7009, website: www.wormwoman.com.

  • Binet Payne, The Worm Café: Mid-Scale Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes. This manual describes how a teacher and her students developed a system to compost lunchroom waste with worms and saved their school $6,000 per year.
  • Mary Appelhof et. al, Worms Eat Our Garbage: Classroom Activities for a Better Environment. This curriculum uses more than 150 worm-related activities to develop problem-solving skills in children grades 4-8.
  • Mary Appelhof, Worms Eat My Garbage. Newly revised and updated, this manual provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems.

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