Keep Recycling and Composting in Your Holiday Plans

CVSan customers can request a kitchen pail for collecting food scraps and food-soiled paper for composting at home or including in a green waste container.

With the holidays in full swing, Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) is reminding customers to sort compostable and recyclable materials into the appropriate containers.

“We have many resources available for our community there are lots of different ways to collect and place those materials in your green or blue cart instead of putting them in a landfill,” Naomi Lue, a supervisor with CVSan, told the Forum.  

While putting green waste from the yard, like leaves, weeds, and grass trimmings, in the green bin seems logical, Lue adds that food scraps and paper used to carry food like a pizza box can also go in the green cart to be composted. This includes used paper napkins, compostable plastic foodware, milk cartons, and egg cartons. 

Properly sorting your food scraps and other compostable materials also helps fight climate change, adds Lue, and it’s also been the state law since January 2022. State law (SB 1383) requires residents and businesses to keep compostable and recyclable materials out of California’s landfills. In addition, some businesses such as grocery stores, food distributors, and large restaurants must recover and donate their surplus edible food. 

To help encourage customers to put more compostable materials in the green bin, agencies like CVSan are providing various-sized green bins that are perfect to keep in the kitchen area or wherever food waste may be generated. In this way, those carrot tops, onion skins, and 10-year-old fruit cake can make their way into a compost collector.

“It’s a huge step that each home and business can have by redirecting food into green containers,” Lue said. “The benefit is to help the climate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions instead of putting into landfill.” 

While the logical place for cardboard, paper, and empty bottles and cans is the blue bin, CVSan is one of the few waste agencies that has expanded its capabilities. 

“Periodically, we offer additional collections for things not normally found in a blue bin,” Lue said.

This includes old textiles collected the first full week of June and October each year. Up to three used motor oil containers (5 gallons or smaller) and three used oil filters can be placed next to the blue bin each week. Dead batteries can be put in a clear baggie for identification and left on top of the recycle bin.

CVSan also has contracts that allow the collection of recycled materials such as Recycle #3, #4, and #5 food containers, yogurt containers, chicken broth and juice boxes, and food tubs or packaging.

“After COVID, there was a lot of strain put on the recycling market,” Lue said. “Currently, there is a lack of market for #3 and #4 containers, but we will continue to collect those until the market recovers.”