Demolition of Shoreway Recycling Plant in San Carlos Underway

Demolition of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority’s (SBWMA) Shoreway Recycling and Disposal Center in San Carlos began on November 9, 2009. This marks the beginning of the major construction planned at the facility to transform it into the Shoreway Environmental Center, California’s Greenest Recycling Center and Transfer Station. The public can view the demolition and construction of the MRF through webcams hosted on the SBWMA’s website athttp://www.rethinkwaste.org/shoreway-facility/construction-webcam.

The building that is currently being torn down is an existing 48,000-square-foot materials recovery facility (MRF) where the recyclables from the SBWMA’s residential and commercial customers were being processed. In its place, a new 70,200-square-foot MRF will be constructed to handle an increase of over 20,000 tons of recyclables.

Once building construction is completed, the new MRF will house state-of-the-art processing equipment specially designed to process and separate single stream recyclables, where bottles, cans and paper products are mixed together.

“We are now making tangible progress towards fulfilling our vision for state-of-the-art, cost-effective collection services for local residents and businesses,” said Kevin McCarthy, Executive Director of the SBWMA. “Once construction activities are complete at the Shoreway facility, we will have the most technologically advanced recycling systems in the country.”

In addition to the MRF construction, the SBWMA will be expanding the existing 62,000-square-foot transfer station by an additional 14,780 square feet to increase unloading space for public customers. It will also allow for a 30,000-ton-per-year increase in plant materials and food scraps collected from local residents and businesses. The transfer station construction is expected to begin in August 2010. All construction activity is expected to be completed in the spring 2011.

Other key features of the future facility include a relocated buy-back center and free recycling drop-off to provide the public a safer and more convenient access to the area, major traffic improvements for customer safety, “Green Building” features, and a new environmental education center.

The public areas at Shoreway, including the transfer station, buy-back center and free recycling drop-off remain open during the MRF construction. The public is encouraged to visit RethinkWaste.org for up-to-date construction information and any changes to services offered.

About SBWMA
Formed in 1982, the SBWMA is a joint powers authority comprised of 12 member 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 and is a leader in implementing innovative waste reduction and recycling programs.

The SBWMA also owns and manages the Shoreway facility in San Carlos consisting of a permitted solid waste transfer station and a recycling processing facility. For more information on the SBWMA, please visit our website at www.RethinkWaste.org.

City of San Carlos Joins Facebook!

San Carlos, CA - October 21, 2009 - The City of San Carlos announced that it has joined Facebook and now has a Facebook page that provides information on City Projects and Events. The City of San Carlos Facebook page debuted on October 20th, and was formally announced at the Pulse of Business Social Media Workshop sponsored by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and held at the San Carlos Library this morning. The page is available on the Internet at http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Carlos-CA/City-of-San-Carlos/159914270431?v=wall&ref=nf

San Carlos residents, businesses and visitors can find the city's Facebook page by entering "City of San Carlos" in the search box on www.facebook.com. The initial information on the City of San Carlos Facebook section includes today's Pulse of Business Social Media Workshop, this weekend's Citywide Garage Sale sponsored by San Carlos Together and San Carlos Green and the upcoming Goblin Walk sponsored by the San Carlos Parks and Recreation Department, San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and Miller & Associates. Even though the San Carlos Facebook is barely 24 hours old, it already has 30 "fans" (Facebook members that are watching the City's Facebook page).

The City's of San Carlos section on Facebook can be reached from any standard web browser including Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. In addition, there is software to reach Facebook from cell phones and smart phones including the recently released Facebook 2.0 program that was written for Apple iPhone users by the developers at Facebook.Com.

Social Media and Economic Development in San Carlos
An interesting twist of the San Carlos approach to social media is the City's program of following local businesses that also use social media. San Carlos firms with a current business registration on Facebook and Twitter are linked to the City's pages on these services. This creates a virtual San Carlos Business Guide on each service and helps to leverage the traffic that both the City and the local business firms receive.

According to Assistant City Manager Brian Moura, this is another way that the City is stimulating economic development and the success of businesses located in San Carlos. A check of the two social media sites shows 30 San Carlos businesses linked to the City Twitter site and 11 San Carlos businesses linked to the City's Facebook site. The City anticipates expanding these virtual business guides as more San Carlos companies join Facebook and Twitter.