My Food Waste Journey

Waste Diversion in Marin

            As a person living here in Marin County, I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live within a flourishing waste diversion system. Marin Sanitary Service  (“MSS”) is a world-renowned waste management company established in 1948 and had many of the “firsts” in the waste community, including the first ever containerized cart. Additionally, Marin County has a goal of almost 95% waste diversion by 2025, which the county is working towards right now. 

Marin Sanitary Service’s Regulations

At home, my family has separate bins for the different categories of waste, in almost every room, as well as an outdoor digester for composting outside. Of course, we could do better in terms of sorting our waste correctly EVERY time, but for the most part currently our family sorts waste effectively based on MSS regulations. 

Although now we sort our waste correctly, a few months ago it might have been a different story. I’m a member of MarinSEL, a magnet inside of Terra Linda High School that focuses on environmental issues, and because of this I have become more educated about proper food waste regulations. There were a few things that were surprising to me about some of the restrictions, including:

a.    Clear tubs cannot be recycled

b.     Any paper recycling that is shined (waxed paper) cannot be recycled

c.     Nail polish cannot be thrown away (classified as hazardous waste)

d.     “Compostable” bags and dishware cannot be composted

            There were a few other restrictions that I was confused about, but these four were the main ones that I was shocked by. I’d recommend anyone confused or interested about MSS restrictions look into the Marin Sanitary Service website in the “Flyers” or “Where Does It Go, Joe?” sections for more information.

            Overall, learning more about these regulations really helped me realize the importance of correctly sorting my food waste. One piece of information that is really striking to me is that a single piece of trash in a recycling or compost pile can contaminate the whole stack and cause it to be placed in the landfill. People need to be mindful of sorting so they don’t accidentally cause any contamination. 

Composting

            Apart from restrictions, a main aspect of my food waste journey has been composting. As stated above, my household has an outdoor digester (a large, raised container with separate compartments for broken down food waste and whole food scraps), as well as a small container located in our kitchen that is dumped into the green compost bin outside daily. Composting is really important, since roughly 20% of the makeup of the landfill is food waste. I’m proud that our family is doing our part and not contributing to this statistic. 

All in all, the food waste diversion system in Marin is great, and our household, as well as many other households in the county are truly doing an amazing job at correctly sorting food waste and making the environment a better place.

Simone Dayton
Freshman, Class of 2026

Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, CA

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