Shoreway Environmental Center

San Carlos, CA

Innovative waste reduction and recycling propelled the complete transformation of RethinkWaste’s South Bayside Solid Waste Management Authority Shoreway Environmental Center into an efficient and productive waste-handling complex. JRMA’s master plan updated the complex to achieve its community, economic, and environmental goals. This LEED Gold certified facility fits comfortably in its business park surroundings, showing off a modern three-story glass and metal office and education center to cars passing on the freeway and visitors driving up to the entrance.

A new single-stream materials recovery facility, or MRF, increased recovery of the materials arriving at the center. While this state-of-the-art equipment works hard to keep California’s waste out of landfills, the Environmental Education Center works hard to educate the community on waste reduction, sustainability and the many programs offered by RethinkWaste.

With increased rates of recycling and composting, the Center also needed an expansion to the transfer center that accepts materials for sorting and repurposing. Not only did the modified transfer center, along with a new entrance road and gate house, reduce waiting time and traffic, but it also expanded services by offering a place for residents to hand-deliver their recyclables or receive refunds on bottles and cans.

Tucked high on the roofs of the Shoreway Environmental Center are solar panels that provide 50 percent of the facility’s energy. This solar power, plus other design enhancements and new equipment at the facility, save $1.6 million dollars a year, allowing the Shoreway Environmental Center to keep expanding waste reduction and recycling.

 

Project Facts
Location: San Carlos, CA
Completion: 2010
Site Area: 16 AC
Total Building Area: 152,000 SF
Processing Capacity: 3,000 TPD
Service Type: Master Planning, Architectural Design, Structural Engineering
Sustainability: LEED Gold
 
Project Highlights

Operational Benefits

  • Increased recovery from a new state-of-art MRF.
  • Reconfigured on-site roads for reduced wait times, operational efficiency and safety.
  • Extensive use of  photovoltaics provide 50% of needed energy.
  • Environmental Education Center.  
Awards
  • 2013 San Mateo County Industrial Green Building Award
  • 2013 California State Assembly Recognition Award for Sustainability
  • 2013 State of California Senate Recognition Award for Sustainability
  • 2012 SWANA Gold Excellence Award Transfer Station Design

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