{"id":600623,"date":"2026-04-23T00:48:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600623\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:48:47","slug":"this-santa-rosa-waste-facility-takes-in-tons-of-plastic-daily-where-it-goes-after-that-we-tried-to-find-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600623\/","title":{"rendered":"This Santa Rosa waste facility takes in tons of plastic daily. Where it goes after that, we tried to find out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lea el art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed.<\/a><\/p>\n

At an 85,000-square-foot solid waste plant in south Santa Rosa<\/a>, a tractor loader scooped up the blue bin contents from hundreds of Sonoma and Marin County curbside garbage customers. The mix of recyclables was then funneled through a maze of conveyor belts, chutes and optical sorters.<\/p>\n

Paper traveled up along a fish ladder to be baled, while heavier materials continued down the line, where a separator diverted aluminum in one direction and a magnet pulled steel cans off the line and flung them into a cage. People posted along the way served as a \u201clast line of defense,\u201d as Recology Sonoma Marin<\/a>\u2018s Senior General Manager Logan Harvey put it, making sure the discarded containers, cardboard and paper products were headed for the right place.<\/p>\n

The whirring high-tech machinery is part of a $35 million upgrade completed two years ago at Recology Sonoma Marin\u2019s Materials Recovery Facility<\/a>. The Standish Avenue plant, the main destination for blue bin materials across Recology\u2019s service area in the region, now takes in and processes roughly 350 tons of recycling a day \u2014 40 to 50 tons per hour \u2014 from 13 communities in Sonoma and Marin counties.<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers have one final opportunity to pick out any recyclable plastics out of a stream of mixed materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A loader moves mixed materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"Bundles<\/p>\n

Bundles of aluminum cans for recycling at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"Different<\/p>\n

Different types of plastics are bundled at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Workers have one final opportunity to pick out any recyclable plastics out of a stream of mixed materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously, San Francisco-based Recology, the region\u2019s dominant waste hauler, had to outhaul two-thirds or more of what it took in for processing elsewhere, Harvey said. After the upgrades, the Santa Rosa facility boosted its recovery rate of recyclables \u2014 the share of discarded materials sorted and sent downstream to be recycled \u2014 from 75% to up to 85%.<\/p>\n

But challenges remain, and some of them are plainly evident in the sorting process at the plant.<\/p>\n

Standing over the first conveyor belt, in the course of two minutes, Harvey pulled off a large stretch of fabric, a hunk of metal, a chunk of wood, a pillow and several plastic bags. Any of these could jam or damage a machine, sometimes forcing a temporary shutdown or repairs that can cost thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cContamination is a problem,\u201d said Harvey. Although, the former mayor of Sonoma <\/a>added that he\u2019s proud of Sonoma County\u2019s comparatively lower rate of contamination, about 10% to 15%.<\/p>\n

Addressing that issue comes down in part to people taking greater care as they sort through their waste at home. But consumer behavior is driven, too, by decades of mixed messages on what can be recycled, especially when it comes to plastic.<\/p>\n

A wide range of rigid plastics \u2014 bottles, clamshell containers, laundry detergent jugs, tubs and lids \u2014 are now accepted in blue bins in many communities, including in Sonoma County and surrounding areas. But, while such plastics are promoted as \u201cwidely recyclable\u201d by governments, industry and by the companies that produce them, the rates those are actually recycled are\u00a0dismal.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time, CalRecycle<\/a>, the state solid waste agency, published recycling rates<\/a> by material for 2024. No plastic had a recycling rate above 23%, and most were in the single digits. Polypropylene, labeled as #5, had a rate of just 2%.<\/p>\n

For comparison, materials like glass, cardboard and aluminum scored much higher \u2014 a range of 40% to 70%.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, the overall plastic recycling rate is often estimated at around<\/a> 5%, down<\/a> from a peak of 9.5% in 2014.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A vexing challenge<\/p>\n

The process to recycle metals, glass and paper or to compost food waste is relatively straight forward and cost-effective and has been done for decades. By comparison, plastics, which are made up of thousands of chemicals, are much trickier and more expensive to deal with. Most cannot be turned safely into new food-grade materials because of the toxins involved, especially when it comes to #5 plastic.<\/p>\n

That means your grocery store butter tub or yogurt container, if it\u2019s recycled into anything, would more likely be used for something like a traffic cone or battery casing, said Jan Dell, who left a long corporate career in chemical engineering to start The Last Beach Cleanup<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to stopping plastic pollution and waste exports and factchecking recycling claims.<\/p>\n

There are few plants that are capable of this task, Dell and other researchers say. And, because it is so much cheaper to produce new plastic, demand is limited for the recycled alternative.<\/p>\n

Operations wading into that business also face public scrutiny over concerns about environmental and health effects. Plastic recycling startup Resynergi abandoned plans to expand in Rohnert Park<\/a>, and signaled it would move out of California, following mounting opposition and regulatory scrutiny.<\/p>\n

A\u00a02025 report<\/a> by Greenpeace<\/a> identified 21 commercial facilities nationwide capable of recycling #1 plastic bottles and 22 that can recycle #2 plastic containers, with the ability to process around 20% of the waste generated by those products. The authors found only two operational plants capable of processing polypropylene, or #5, with a maximum processing capacity of 2% of what\u2019s produced.<\/p>\n

The dominant trendlines \u2014 little recycling of plastics in the U.S. and a narrow band of operators capable of doing so \u2014 come as the plastic industry has touted strides in the space, pointing to technological advances and\u00a0expanded community collection of recyclables.<\/p>\n

Consumer brands also have made lofty commitments to use more recycled plastic. Many of them benchmarked transitions by a certain year \u2014 2025 for some, 2030 for others.<\/p>\n

But researchers and environmental groups have disputed that plastic recycling, now and into the future, will be effective at scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re always coming up with some new solution that is still based on plastic waste recycling, and plastic recycling fundamentally doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Dell said.<\/p>\n

Brittany LaValley, senior vice president of impact and management with The Recycling Partnership<\/a>, an industry backed nonprofit, insisted that \u201cthe primary challenge isn\u2019t recycling capacity\u201d or a lack of demand for recycled plastic. \u201cIt\u2019s household capture,\u201d the amount of waste diverted to recycling bins instead of trashcans, she said.<\/p>\n

Still, several <\/a>plastic recycling factories have failed to get off the ground or shuttered<\/a>\u00a0recently. And, a\u00a0number of companies<\/a> have also quietly walked or pushed back their recycled plastic commitments.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, new plastic production continues to grow<\/a>, as does the body of research into impacts from plastics on environmental and human health. According to a 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study<\/a>, plastics have the strongest growth trajectory of any bulk material, with production expected to double or triple by 2050.<\/p>\n

A local experiment<\/p>\n

So, how much of our locally discarded plastics end up being processed for recycling?<\/p>\n

In late January and early February, Press Democrat journalists put a combination of #5 plastic deli containers and a large McDonald\u2019s<\/a> plastic drink cup, equipped with location trackers, into their household blue bins.<\/p>\n

Several of the trackers died at Santa Rosa\u2019s materials recovery facility. One container went to Sonoma County\u2019s central landfill and recycling site west of Petaluma. One made it as far as Las Vegas<\/a>, last pinging at waste management giant Republic Services<\/a>\u2018 \u201cPolymer Center,\u201d opened in late 2023 as part of a larger push to boost plastic recycling. That facility sources bales of plastic from recycling sorters across the western U.S., but doesn\u2019t actually do the work of turning recovered plastics into new material. Rather, it does \u201csecondary sortation,\u201d according to a spokesperson. From there, bales go to a new factory in Indianapolis that turns packaging into resins to be used in new products.<\/p>\n

One tracker was placed in a recycling bin in Sebastopol, which last year switched<\/a> from Recology to Sonoma County Resource Recovery for waste services. That container eventually ended up at a landfill and recycling site in Suisun City after traveling through Windsor and Ukiah.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What did the dispersal of our tracker-equipped plastics show?<\/p>\n

Not much, Harvey, the local Recology manager, suggested.<\/p>\n

If any of the containers ended up at a landfill, the trackers may have made them too heavy for the optical sorters or they could have fallen out of the tubs, he said.<\/p>\n

Recology\u2019s Santa Rosa\u2019s facility does not send its baled recyclables to landfills, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re duty-bound by our contracts to recycle recyclables. That can result in a contract violation if we were to landfill it, and it\u2019s not what we do as a company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, other tracking experiments<\/a> elsewhere have yielded<\/a> similar outcomes, and Dell said the results overall support what more thorough and scientific data shows \u2014 that most of our plastic is unlikely to be recycled in the end.<\/p>\n

A vast network<\/p>\n

The experiment, however simple and inconclusive, highlights a stark reality about our waste stream and about recyclables in particular. They are moved around, a lot.<\/p>\n

The metal, glass, cardboard, paper and plastics gathered and sorted at the Recology\u2019s Santa Rosa plant, for instance, are shipped off to a wide range of destinations that can include a number of stopovers for further sorting or reselling.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t think of recycling for what it is \u2014 a global \u201ccommodities market based on pricing,\u201d Harvey said, and \u201ccertainly the market and the stability of that market is a challenge.\u201d The market \u201ccan shift by a lot \u2013 $30 to $40 a ton \u2013 in a very short period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plastics are a particular challenge, especially polypropylene, and this year, #1 and #2 plastic values have dropped. But, \u201cit\u2019s better that it have a chance that it be recycled than it be landfilled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Plastics make up about 5% by weight of what is processed at the Santa Rosa plant. Cardboard accounts for the most, at 42%, then paper at 24%, metal, like steel cans, at 16%. Glass accounts for 10% and aluminum for just over 1%. About two tons of polypropylene is sorted and baled per day.<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers remove contaminants from the plastic materials line at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"Mixed<\/p>\n

Mixed rigid plastics are bundled at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"Recology<\/p>\n

Recology workers remove contaminants from the stream of recoverable materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Recology truck offloads mixed recyclables, while a loader gathers materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Recology employee removes a large plastic sheet from mixed materials at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Items like this can wrap around machinery and cause malfunctions and damage. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

\"Mixed<\/p>\n

Mixed materials offloaded at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 6<\/p>\n

Workers remove contaminants from the plastic materials line at the Recology Material Recovery Facility in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The mix of destinations for these materials change every month based on demand and the ability of mills to get new contracts to make recycled products, according to Recology Public Relations Manager Robert Reed, who said the company prioritizes domestic end markets. While the specifics are proprietary, he said, currently from Santa Rosa, #1 plastic water bottles generally go to Nevada, #2 detergent bottles are going to Canada, Lodi and Nevada, mixed paper and cardboard are going to Southeast Asia, steel cans have been heading to Oregon, glass stays in Northern California and aluminum goes to Pennsylvania and Alabama. Most #5 plastic goes to plants in Nevada and Alabama.<\/p>\n

But because the huge bales that plastics are packed into can travel through a line of transfer stations or brokers, it\u2019s hard to publicly track or know for sure exactly where they end up and how much is really turned into new materials, experts say.<\/p>\n

Industry investments questioned<\/p>\n

In the mid to late 2010s, the volume and visibility of plastic pollution globally and China\u2019s refusal<\/a> to keep taking plastic waste from places like the U.S. forced a reckoning.<\/p>\n

An NPR and PBS Frontline investigation <\/a>and other reporting detailed how, going back to the 1980s, the plastics industry started pushing plastic recycling through public relations campaigns and the now ubiquitous chasing arrows labels despite knowing most plastic would not be recycled. In 2024, California Attorney General sued<\/a> ExxonMobil, the oil and gas giant that is also one of the world\u2019s largest producers of plastic resins and polymers, for misleading the public about the efficacy of plastic recycling.<\/p>\n

In the wake of intensified scrutiny and criticism, oil, gas and petrochemical companies that make plastics and the manufacturers and consumer brands that use and market them have poured<\/a> more money into plastic recycling efforts, especially for<\/a> #5 polypropylene.\u00a0Associations backed by<\/a> many of the major players and some of the same trade organizations accused of deceptive marketing decades ago, and also some environmental groups, have launched a series of educational campaigns<\/a>, grant programs and new labeling initiatives, including a \u201cwidely recyclable\u201d designation<\/a> for polypropylene in 2022.<\/p>\n

One such group is The Recycling Partnership. Founded<\/a> in 2014, the organization, \u201cinsists on meaningful change across the recycling system and assists communities, companies, and policymakers in enacting such change,\u201d according to its website<\/a>. \u201cWe firmly believe that if you want to recycle, you should be able to recycle. A robust and accessible recycling system is how we achieve this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. tax records, according to Greenpeace\u2019s 2025 report<\/a>, show that annual funding for The Recycling Partnership went from less than $1 million\u00a0to $37 million in 2023.<\/p>\n

In 2020, The Recycling Partnership launched the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition<\/a> to \u201cunlock the full potential of polypropylene in the circular economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, the program has distributed over $19 million across 65 grants for upgrades to materials recovery facilities and community education and outreach. Across the U.S., 48 million more residents can now recycle polypropylene, and 75 million new pounds of the #5 plastic are now captured annually, The Recycling Partnership\u2019s LaValley said in written responses to questions.<\/p>\n

Recology\u2019s Santa Rosa facility was one of<\/a> the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition\u2019s grant recipients \u2014 a $250,000 award to install an optical sorter for polypropylene as part of its larger recent modernization.<\/p>\n

Industry members and plastic recycling proponents say these campaigns and investments are necessary to finally make recycling promises a reality, but critics contend the efforts are just an extension of the same playbook the industry has been using all along to justify unchecked plastic production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not recyclable. This is the big myth that the industry have promoted for 40 years, and it\u2019s so entrenched, it\u2019s so well funded,\u201d Dell said, adding that she views governments and waste companies as perpetuating that myth.<\/p>\n

As a chemical engineer who worked for major corporations all over the world, she called the investments made through grants to local facilities trivial in comparison to the profits made through plastic production. Going further, she said, they \u201cblock progress\u201d by telegraphing to consumers that if they put certain plastics in their blue bins, they will necessarily be recycled into something new.<\/p>\n

The Recycling Partnership\u2019s LaValley said that polypropylene can be recycled, and processing infrastructure has improved over the years. Despite challenges, she said \u201cimproving capture is still effective\u201d because \u201cstrong end markets already exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaValley also said that \u201crecycling is not a permission slip to keep making more plastic,\u201d and cited the importance of honesty \u201cabout what can actually be recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means pushing for truth and accountability: better design, clear labeling, less confusing claims, and real investment in the recycling system that\u2019s been underfunded for decades,\u201d she said. \u201cSo yes, reduce production and unnecessary packaging. And in parallel, fix the system for what remains. Done right, recycling investments aren\u2019t a distraction, they\u2019re a guardrail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, current data, including the new California figures, indicate the results remain underwhelming, and plastic recycling markets continue to struggle.<\/p>\n

The sorter funded by The Recycling Partnership helps create cleaner plastic waste streams and bales that are easier to sell in \u201ca very competitive market,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cCertainly if we\u2019ve got an ability to take a grant\u2026 for us the big question is, can we reduce contamination?\u201d<\/p>\n

Recology Sonoma Marin already collected polypropylene and did not add any additional materials to its collection list as a result of the partnership, he added. \u201cWe sit in the middle of this whole thing. We are not the consumer, we\u2019re not the producer and we\u2019re not the recycler. At the end of the day, we\u2019re the hauler and the processor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocky road for regulation<\/p>\n

But the prevalence of plastics in the waste stream and the confusion created for customers by industry marketing is also a source of frustration for Harvey and Reed, they said.<\/p>\n

Reed pointed to the plastic bags that get tangled in Recology\u2019s equipment that are really trash despite chasing arrows stamps. He also bemoaned unnecessary plastic use, like shrink-wrapped bunches of bananas or plastic labels on plastic water bottles encased as a pack in yet more plastic.<\/p>\n

As part of extensive community outreach and education efforts, they said, Recology pushes reuse and conscious consumption and reduced waste in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cA clever person solves a problem,\u201d Reed quipped. \u201cA wise person avoids it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond consumer choice, much of how plastics are used now and in the future depend also on how they\u2019re regulated, and there\u2019s a lot in the balance in California.<\/p>\n

The state has struggled to finalize sweeping and controversial<\/a> legislation to cut plastic food waste passed in 2022, SB 54<\/a>. In January, regulators withdrew<\/a> the latest proposed rules for further revisions. Meanwhile, however, California\u2019s \u201cTruth in Labeling\u201d law, SB 343<\/a> \u2014 which prohibits symbols of recyclability, like the chasing arrows, without meeting certain criteria \u2014 goes into effect this year.<\/p>\n

The plastic industry has a history of fighting such regulatory efforts. Federal legislation introduced by a Texas congressmember, with the support of plastic producers and their associations, according to the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, aims to preempt California\u2019s SB 343.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s single-use plastic bag ban also went into effect Jan. 1. An initial ban was passed in 2014 and upheld by voters in 2016, but a loophole<\/a> allowed for the continued use of thicker bags marketed as reusable, and data showed the tonnage of discarded plastic bags between 2014 and 2022 shot up almost 50%.<\/p>\n

At the Santa Rosa Recology plant, where hundreds of tons of waste is dumped every day, Harvey likes to stand and reflect on the massive pile waiting to be sorted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my head I go, \u2018this is one county in one state in one country,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like the producers produce what they produce. We as consumers, consume it, and then, yeah, it just goes away\u2026 But there is no \u2018away.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Update (1:30 p.m., April 22, 2026): This story has been revised to include additional details about the tracking experiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can reach senior reporter Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On X @marisaendicott and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.<\/p>\n

Recycling tips<\/p>\n

Tips for optimizing recycling, and what to avoid:<\/p>\n

Recycling must be clean and dry. Give containers a light rinse beforehand.
\nRecyclables can\u2019t be in a plastic trash bag.
\nAvoid multi-material packaging, which can be difficult to impossible to recycle.
\nFlatten cardboard boxes.
\nDo not put batteries, including battery-powered devices like e-cigarettes, in bins. If compacted they can start fires at sorting facilities, endangering workers and equipment.
\nPolypropylene political campaign signs are likely not recyclable.
\nBuy glass, aluminum or paper-based products instead of plastic whenever possible.
\nBuy less. Reuse more \u2014 re-purpose containers at home, bring reusable mugs to coffee shops.
\nCompost. But, note that plastic items marked as \u201cbiodegradable\u201d or \u201ccompostable,\u201d like green produce bags, cannot be composted in backyards or put in curbside bins.<\/p>\n

Zero Waste Sonoma has more information on how to dispose of specific materials, local facilities, sites and waste haulers and other tips: https:\/\/zerowastesonoma.gov\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lea el art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed. At an 85,000-square-foot solid waste plant in south Santa Rosa, a tractor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,5415,4176,261280,6562,94080,79,5414],"class_list":["post-600623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-marin-county","tag-plastics","tag-recology-sonoma-marin","tag-recycling","tag-santa-rosa","tag-science","tag-sonoma-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}