From:
To: City Council
Subject: Recology Comment
Date: Monday, January 6, 2025 5:01:13 PM
Hello!
I have a comment to add for the meeting tomorrow since I cannot make it.
I don’t want to see the city use a different waste management company. Here are a few reasons!
Recology is committed to low waste and sorting properly. They commit to education and I love seeing their booth at our events like the gravenstein apple fair etc. I’m always excited to see their mailings and learn about their services. It’s really really important waste management companies do these things.
The people that work there are great! It’s 100% employee owned. I feel like their company stands with the morals and ethics that Sebastopol likes to see and we should support companies that align with our values.
What happens to all of our Recology bins if we switch over to the new folks? Will they all go to the landfill? Folks have gotten used to Recology being their waste management company and there will be more confusion and learning things with the new company. I know what Recology takes recycling wise and I’ve been educating folks around me what they take and teaching about their process. When the process changes, because we don’t have a universal trash system (which I wish we did), it’s hard to relearn the new system and more waste occurs.
People get confused and they are less likely to want to comply in general and commit to recycling and composting.
Most importantly the Recology Recycling center in Santa Rosa is amazing. I’m not sure about the other company but they have to drive it outside of Sonoma county which is more greenhouse gases and more waste. It’s totally ridiculous and doesn’t align with the city’s goals on sustainability. Recology is able to recover and recycle 80% of the materials they receive at the center! They also don’t sell to any off shore companies so all the materials are managed ethically. They are doing a great job and apparently are lower in cost for the residents.
Let’s keep investing and supporting them! I say no to the other company and keeping Recology. Waste is a huge thing that we all have to think about sooner or later. It’s vitally important that we educate folks and Recology is doing that. They have the resources and have put investment into our community to make it better. Sometimes change is amazing!! It’s much needed. But this time I don’t think it would be a positive change when they thing we have is already so great :)
Respectfully!
Grace Kent