Trash talk in the city

The effort to better San Mateo's recycling rate comes at a time when the city is seriously behind its recycling goals, set by a state mandate that went into effect at the beginning of this year. The law requires that cities recycle at least 50 percent of their waste-stream from the landfill or be subject to $10,000 per day fines.

Despite the success of other Peninsula cities in meeting the mandate, as of the beginning of the year, San Mateo was only diverting 34 percent of its waste, an amount that has gradually inched up to about 39 percent, according to Vern Bessey, environmental compliance coordinator for the city.

Bessey said the city is in the process of applying for a three-year extension to the state mandate, which would give it more time to come into compliance.

In the meantime, the ordinance will prove to the state that the city is putting a "good faith effort" into meeting the mandate.

"We're pursuing it because we think it has a lot of potential to improve our diversion rate," Bessey said.

Some of the elements of the ordinance are still up in the air, like whether it will apply to projects based on size or cost estimates.

However, the ordinance is not intended for small-scale home remodels.

As the ordinance is currently proposed, residential projects of at least 1,000 square feet and commercial projects of at least 2,500 square feet would be included. But by basing the ordinance on the cost of the project, the city may be able to include even more projects.

Applicants would need to leave a deposit with the city, which would be refunded when the project is completed and documentation of the waste diversion filed.

Some major city projects, like the old Main Street Garage, are already sending the majority of demolition debris for recycling.

Public Works Commissioner Kelly Moran said she wants to make sure that the city doesn't allow construction and demolition debris to be considered "recycled," when in fact it's used as cover on the landfill.

"It's been counted as recycling even though it's going on the landfill. It's a controversial issue in the state because there's been a lot of abuse," Moran said.

She's proposed that the city's ordinance not allow "alternative daily cover" to count in recycling figures.

Although city officials say that the proposed ordinance would bring relatively little hassle to project contractors, who would be responsible for separating the recyclable from the other waste debris, some contractors warned that the extra monitoring involved would increase project costs. George Leonoff, vice president of S.J. Amoroso, the construction firm that built the San Mateo Transit Center and will build the new Main Street Garage, said segregating garbage and sending it to the right places would cost more money.

"That's where the cost would come in. One would have to find someone who would take it and get it to the appropriate sources to have recycled," Leonoff said. "We would be looking for a vendor to do that and that's an additional vendor on the job."

But with San Mateo being one of the last cities in the Peninsula to create such an ordinance to recycle construction and demolition debris, some say it's time for the city to step to the plate.

"I think one of the problems is the recycling burden has just fallen on the individual homeowners and residents and the reason we have fallen behind is that businesses and [construction] projects aren't recycling," said Deputy Mayor Sue Lempert. "It's long overdue."