New Solid Waste & Recycling Franchise with Recology Moves Ahead in San Carlos
At the last City Council Meeting, the Council discussed  a Staff Report on the Solid Waste & Recycling services San Carlos residents and businesses will receive starting in January 2011.  That is when San Carlos will begin working with a new Solid Waste Collection firm named Recology (formerly known as Norcal Waste Systems). 

Recology currently provides these services in a number of Bay Area cities including San Bruno and San Francisco.  They are known for their success in assisting customers in increasing the amount of recycling with results reaching and exceeding 70% in some communities.  In San Carlos and other agencies in the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) service area in San Mateo County, Recology plans to launch a “Recycling Blitz” next summer to accelerate recycling efforts in Commercial and Multi-Family Residential sites.  They also plan a full program of educational outreach in conjunction with the SBWMA.

At the last City Council meeting, Recology brought examples of their three cart system – a Blue cart for Single Stream Recyclables, a Green cart for Organic Materials (Food Scraps and Green Yard Clippings) and a Black cart for Solid Waste/Garbage to the Council Meeting for viewing by the Council and members of the audience.  These carts will be wheeled for easy movement to the curb and they are designed for pickup with an automated truck to keep collection costs down.  A 20 gallon Solid Waste cart will be an option for San Carlos residential customers in light of the trading down in cart sizes we are now seeing as a result of our successful Food Scraps program (see story below). 

Staff also highlighted for the City Council the upcoming “Single Stream” recycling program Recology will offer.  It allows customers to place all recyclables in one container to make recycling even easier.  As an added bonus, this system of mixing all materials will also discourage so-called “dumpster divers” who sometimes collect recycled materials ahead of the collection company. 

The City Council offered their comments and a final franchise document with Recology is anticipated to come back to for approval in the next month or two.  This will provide ample time for the new company to order carts, equipment, vehicles and begin the transition to the new services starting in 2011 – and the recycling blitz next summer.

San Carlos Climate Action Plan Wins Northern California APA Award

The City of San Carlos has received the 2009 Outstanding Planning Award of Merit in the Category of Innovation in Green Community Planning from the Northern California Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) for the City’s innovative and groundbreaking Climate Action Plan (CAP).  The CAP includes 21 reduction goals and 39 reduction measures aimed at reducing the City's Greenhouse Gas levels to 15% below the 2005 levels by the year 2020.  The project also successfully integrated Greenhouse Gas emission reduction and climate change strategies into the Environmental Management Element of the City's General Plan 2030 Update.

In presenting the Innovation in Green Community Planning to San Carlos Planning Manager Deborah Nelson, APA Awards Co-Director Eileen Whitty noted that the San Carlos Climate Action Plan merited an award for several key reasons including Making a Complex Topic Easily Understood, Clearly Outlining the Impacts of Climate Change and the Community's Carbon Footprint, Showing the Impacts of the Proposed Measures to Reduce the City's Carbon Footprint and Developing a Plan that is both Practical and Highly Implementable.

SMC Energy Watch & RightLights Help San Carlos Businesses Cut Their Energy Costs !
There’s a new program in San Mateo County that is bringing energy efficiency to public agencies (like the City), small businesses and in the year ahead – residential customers as well.  It’s called San Mateo County Energy Watch and its funded by the “Public Goods Charge” on customer PG&E bills. SMC Energy Watch has been working with the City on audits and energy saving programs to cut costs in City buildings. 

Now, SMC Energy Watch is teaming up with a group named RightLights to bring energy saving programs to small and medium sized businesses here in San Carlos!  These services will include free customized surveys and energy audits of lighting, refrigeration and vending systems for qualified commercial PG&E customers on A1, A6, A10, or E19-v rate schedules.

RightLights will present businesses with recommendations on energy efficient upgrades including estimates on energy savings, available rebates to help pay for the upgrade work and a projection of the payback period for this work.  RightLights works with pre-approved contractors and pays the energy rebates directly to the contractor.  The local business is only responsible for paying the portion of the work not covered by the rebate.  If you are a qualified business in San Carlos, you can take advantage of the program by contacting Right Lights at 1-888-846-5050 or by email at rightlights@ecoact.org

Feed The Pail, Feed The Planet: Residential Food Scraps Program Begins

After a successful pilot launch of cell phone and household battery recycling in San Carlos last year, the City has once again teamed with Republic Services/Allied Waste and the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) on a new expansion of recycling services in San Mateo County.  The new “Feed The Pail, Feed The Planet” program started in San Carlos on March 9^th and enables San Carlos residents in single-family homes to put food scraps in their Green Yard Trimmings cart.  Examples of food scraps that can now be placed in the Green Cart include fruit, vegetables, coffee grounds, meat and bones, pizza boxes and food-soiled paper, paper cups, and paper plates.

The food scraps can be collected in the kitchen pail that was provided to each residential customer in March or in a paper bag.  This container is then emptied in the Green Yard Trimmings cart as often as needed.  To facilitate the program, single family residents in San Carlos now receive weekly recycling pickups of the Green Yard Trimmings and Food Scraps carts.

We’ve received a number of positive comments about the program since its start in March.  Some customers have diverted so much food material to the Green cart that they are now able to reduce the size of their regular garbage container, reducing the cost of their garbage service.  For more information on the Residential Food Scraps Program in San Carlos, visit the Rethink Waste.Org web site and their section on the San Carlos program.

Convert Your Toyota Prius Into A Plug-In Hybrid in San Carlos

The owners of A+ Japanese Auto Repair in San Carlos have announced that they are now able to covert the Toyota Prius into a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle.  Using the Hymotion Prius Conversion Module, this local auto repair shop located at 780 Industrial Road in San Carlos, can make your vehicle into one that is capable of running 30 to 40 miles per day on electrical power – not gasoline.  This is said to allow owners to achieve “100+ miles per gallon” fuel economy.

According to A+ Japanese Auto Repair, the Hymotion conversion involves adding an additional lithium ion polymer battery to a Toyota Prius.  The lithium battery is recharged by plugging it into a regular household electrical outlet.  This extra battery, allows the plug-in hybrid car to travel longer distances solely on battery power, while still allowing it to operate as a normal hybrid car.

A+ Japanese Auto Repair has converted a white Prius which is on display each day in different locations in San Carlos.  Contact them for more details on where you can see the converted “100 mph+” in San Carlos and their Prius plug-in conversion program.