Mountain View hits obstacles diverting trash from landfills

Karen Noryko had not lived in Mountain View for long before she started to notice a lot of items that she wanted to recycle were not eligible for curbside pickup outside her home.

So, Noryko looked into options other than what the city offered and discovered Ridwell, a company that collects and recycles materials not taken by local municipalities.

At the time, Ridwell did not operate in California, but this changed when Noryko started to inquire about its subscription services. She was offered a job to launch it locally – an offer that she accepted. Three years later, Ridwell is now picking up recyclable waste in dozens of Bay Area cities, but Mountain View is not one of them.

“Literally, the very first employee in California, in Mountain View, and we still don’t have it,” Noryko said.

Noryko hasn’t given up on trying to get Ridwell established in Mountain View even though she no longer works for the company. But it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon.

In 2021, Mountain View renewed a 10-year contractual agreement with Recology, a waste collection service that has been picking up the city’s garbage for decades.

“Allowing another hauler would constitute the city being in breach of this exclusive agreement, or breach of contract, which subjects the city to liability,” said Assistant Public Works Director Ed Arango.

The agreement prohibits third-party service providers from hauling waste in Mountain View, although exceptions are sometimes made, Arango said. Recology didn’t see the exceptions being applicable in this particular case, however. “It’s this exclusive agreement with Recology that really is driving the conflict,” he said.

Reopening the agreement or looking into any changes in services would require negotiations and potential increases for rate payers, Arango said.

Noryko says Ridwell has identified ways that its services could be in compliance with city codes and franchise agreements while contributing to the city’s zero waste goals – a plan to divert 90% of the city’s trash from landfills by 2030. Ridwell presented these possibilities to the city more than a year ago but didn’t get anywhere with it, Noryko said.

Noryko also noted that other jurisdictions have contracts with Recology and still allow Ridwell to pick up recyclable materials.

The specific language related to hauling services is likely different for every jurisdiction, Arango said, in response to how other cities could offer both Recology and Ridwell services. In some cases, waste haulers for other cities issued letters to Ridwell in advance of it providing its services, indicating there was a conflict, he added.

Where does Mountain View stand on zero waste?

As of now, Mountain View is making progress on its zero waste goals and is currently at an 84% diversion rate, according to Jennifer Cutter, the city’s solid waste program manager.

Cutter attributed much of this success to Mountain View’s robust dual-stream recycling and composting programs. The city accepts a lot of household items for curbside pickup too, like clothing, textiles, batteries, cell phones, florescent lights, furniture and appliances, among other things.

A large share of Mountain View’s waste that is diverted from landfills also happens after Recology picks up the garbage bins. About 37% of recyclables and organic material is extracted from trash at a processing station in Sunnyvale, Cutter said. This occurs after residents have pre-sorted their waste into separate carts.

Still, Mountain View has a way to go before hitting its zero waste target by 2030. The city plans to focus more on waste reduction and reuse measures, Cutter said.

“Those are the best ways to get to zero waste. Because recycling and composting is good, but that’s still generating waste. We want to try to prevent waste,” she said.

The door also is not entirely closed to having Ridwell operate in Mountain View. “Once Ridwell and Recology work towards a mutual agreement on how Ridwell’s proposed services can operate in Mountain View without conflicting with the explicit agreement, the city would be receptive to furthering this conversation,” Arango said.

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.