Trash and Recycling


Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

It’s easy to reduce, reuse and recycle in Marina! For more information:

Contact the Monterey Regional Waste Management District for reuse, recycling, composting, materials recovery and landfill disposal

Proper Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste such as Paint, Cleaning Products, Electronic Waste

Proper Disposal of Unused Medication and Medical Sharps

Protect Your Central Coast to learn how to reduce, reuse and recycle in your home or business

Keep Monterey County Clean to report a litter problem

Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling on the Monterey Peninsula

Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Brochure

Monterey County Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Facilities

CalRecycle-Franchise Agreement 

Edible Food Recovery

California implemented statewide organic waste recycling and surplus food recovery laws in 2022 to reduce emissions of methane from food and organic waste in landfills. The law also aims to reduce food insecurity by ensuring more surplus food reaches people in need instead of being thrown away. SB 1383 requires the state to: 

Reduce organic waste disposal by 75% by 2025
 Reduce at least 20% of currently disposed surplus edible food by 2025

What is required?

The law requires mandated food donors to maintain records of their food donation activities. Jurisdictions will monitor compliance by requesting the following types of records during inspections:

  • Contract or written agreement information for food recovery organizations and services
  • Schedules for food donation deliveries or collections
  • Quantity of food donated in pounds per month
  • Types of food each food recovery organization and service will receive or collect

SB 1383 places commercial edible food generators into two tiers. This tier system allows businesses and local governments more time to prepare to expand or build new food recovery infrastructure for foods that are harder to safely store and distribute.  

Who is required to act now?

Starting January 1, 2022, these Tier One Commercial Edible Food Generators, called Tier One Businesses, must donate as much surplus food as possible:

Supermarkets with revenue ≥ $2 million. 
 Grocery Stores with Facilities ≥ 10,000 sq. ft. 
 Food Service Providers 
 Food Distributors 
 Wholesale Food Vendors 

Who will receive the food?

City of Marina Parks & Recreation: 211 Hillcrest Avenue in Marina

Food Bank for Monterey County: 353 W. Rossi Street in Salinas

Thomas Carman Food Pantry: 425 Carmel Avenue in Marina (non-perishables only)

Veterans Transition Center: 220 Twelfth Street in Marina

Please refer to the organization's website, or contact them directly, for information on accepted donations and any specified collection days.  

How will these donations be tracked?

CalRecycle has developed a model recordkeeping tool (link is external) that commercial edible food generators can use to ensure compliance with recordkeeping requirements. The use of this specific tool is optional.

Who is required to act later?

Commercial Edible Food Generators, called Tier Two Businesses, are required to recover as much surplus edible food as possible starting January 1, 2024:

  • Restaurants with Facilities ≥ 5,000 sq. ft. or 250+ seats 
  • Hotels with an On-Site Food Facility and 200+ Rooms 
  • Health Facilities with an On-Site Food Facility and 100+ Beds 
  • Large Venues and Events 
  • State Agency Cafeterias with Facilities ≥ 5,000 sq. ft. or 250+ seats 
  • Local Education Agency with an On-Site Food Facility 
  • Non-Local Entities 

For more information, please refer to CalRecycle’s website.

Waste Hauling Services

GreenWaste Recovery - New Waste Hauler

Visit the GreenWaste Recovery Website

Single Family Rate Sheets

Multi Family Rate Sheets

Commercial Businesses

GreenWaste Rollout Dates 2022

Effective May 1, 2015, the City of Marina and other Monterey Peninsula cities have contracted with GreenWaste Recovery, a privately owned and locally operated recycling and diversion company that specializes in the collection and processing of residential and commercial trash, yard trimmings, curbside recyclables, food waste, and construction and demolition debris.

GreenWaste has been a pioneer in the recycling industry since its inception in 1991 and has demonstrated leadership in the efficient, effective and environmentally sound collection and processing operations.

GreenWaste Recovery is Green Business Certified. 

Since our inception in 1991, GreenWaste has consistently sought new opportunities to integrate environmental and conservation programs into our ongoing operations. As a materials hauler, we have been using biodiesel fuels since we assembled our first fleet, we are constantly increasing route efficiencies to reduce vehicle miles traveled and most recently, we have begun replacing our aging fleet with vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas. As a materials processor, they have some of the highest diversion rates in the industry and have installed 80,000 sq. ft. of solar panels on our MaterialRecovery Facility (MRF). We compost the organics that are recovered from the garbage we process.

GreenWaste Recovery is Climate RegisteredTM

GreenWaste has received Climate RegisteredTM status. Climate RegisteredTM status is awarded to members of the Climate Registry that measure their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to the Registry’s rigorous voluntary reporting program.

The Climate Registry is a non-profit organization that operates the only carbon footprint registry in North America. "Becoming Climate Registered isn’t easy," said former Executive Director Diane Wittenberg of the Climate Registry. "These organizations have measured the GHG footprints with accuracy and transparency. No greenwashing here; that’s real environmental leadership."

As a part of understanding the total GHG impact of GreenWaste’s collection and processing operations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, the net benefit from recycling and composting materials were calculated in terms of avoided GHG emissions. In 2009, GreenWaste avoided over 250,000 metric tons of GHGs, making our avoided emissions 20 times higher than the emissions emitted by our operations. These calculated GHG benefits from recycling and composting are a benefit to the world as a whole, since there are multiple aspects to successful recycling programs. Therefore, these avoided emissions are not considered an offset to the operations. Instead, GreenWaste prefers to use this information to help generate an awareness and understanding of how important these recycling programs are to the local communities we serve.

GreenWaste Recovery Customer Service is available to assist with questions and comments.

Your 2020 Quick Recycling Reference Guide Opens in new window2020 Recycling & Waste Reduction Guide for Monterey County and the Quick Recycling Reference Guide

We are excited to share the new 2020 Recycling & Waste Reduction Guide for Monterey County and the Quick Recycling Reference Guide (link shown below).
2020 Recycling Guide Opens in new windowYou will also find downloadable and printable guides on the www.whatgoeswhere.info and our www.mrwmd.org sites.