Waste Management of Alameda County Unveils LEED™ Gold Organics Processing Facility

First LEED™ Gold-Certified Industrial Building in San Leandro will process and transfer 150,000 tons of organic materials annually.

Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC) unveiled its $11 million, state-of-the-art LEEDTM Gold Organics Processing and Transfer Facility at the Davis Street Resource Recovery Complex today. Only the third Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold building in San Leandro, it is the first industrial building designed to Gold standard in the city.

"Our commitment to greening the environment extends beyond our natural gas collection vehicles and single-stream recycling services. We are building green," said Jack Isola, senior district manager of the Davis Street Resource Recovery Complex. "The Organics Processing and Transfer Facility is the keystone to future developments at Davis Street."

Among the building’s distinguishing features are:

• State-of-the-art biofilter to eliminate odor
• High-speed rollup doors to contain odor and prevent bird entry
• Daylighting via translucent panels and solar tubes
• Mechanically Stabilized Embankment walls built with 100% recycled aggregate
• 95% of construction waste recycled
• 40% of building materials sourced locally
• 20% of building materials from recycled sources

In addition, local contractors provided the majority of construction services and 92% were union jobs.

The 34,967 square foot building includes 1,127 square feet of office space. The balance is dedicated to the processing and transfer of 150,000 tons of yard trimmings and food scraps annually. Residential organics are sent to WMAC’s Organics Material Review Institute (OMRI)-listed composting facility in Marin County. Excess materials are sent to third-party composters and in the case of nearly 500 tons of Christmas trees to biofuel facilities.

"This economic and environmental investment reflects our dedication to helping Alameda County and the Bay Area reach higher diversion goals," said Barry Skolnick, Waste Management Area Vice President. "It also reflects our commitment to our host community, the City of San Leandro, and our many neighbors. Together, we will build a greener future."

A prototype natural gas collection vehicle, currently being tested in the City of Oakland, was on hand to inaugurate the building. Powered with biofuel made from landfill gas at the Altamont Landfill in Livermore, the truck drove into the new facility following the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Celebrants included representatives from Alameda County Board of Supervisors, City of San Leandro, the Oro Loma and Castro Valley sanitary districts and many others. They toured the new building as well as the $1.5 million Public Area Materials Recovery Facility (PAM) that opened last month and created eight new green jobs at Davis Street.

The PAM is designed to process 60,000 tons of construction and demolition material per year, diverting recyclables from landfills. Clean construction lumber is sent to WMAC’s mulch facility in Fremont. There the wood is ground into mulch for gardening. It is part of the closed-loop approach of WM EarthCare, a new landscape product line of locally sourced, 100% recycled compost and mulch available at WMAC’s seven Bay Area facilities.

To learn more about WM EarthCare, visit: www.wmearthcare.com. To learn more about landfill gas to biofuel powering Waste Management collection vehicles, visit: altamontlandfill.wm.com.

Waste Management of the Bay Area is a community-based provider of environmental solutions. We offer residential and commercial curbside collection for recycling, composting and disposal. We deliver local solutions with the knowledge and resources of the nation’s largest residential recycler.

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is largest residential recycler and also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management, visit http://www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

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