Zero Waste Marin is committed to diverting waste from local landfills which includes construction and demolition (C&D) materials. We provide contractors and project managers the resources needed to both comply and exceed with local, state and federal regulatory requirements. We are a resource to our local jurisdictions, haulers, and community to ensure C&D projects are as sustainable as possible.
Learn more about self-hauling in Marin with the Self-Haul Guide!
The Zero Waste Marin self-haul guide covers information about self-hauling regular waste and Construction & Demolition waste. Read this guide to learn more about the rules for self-hauling to facilities, and information about the relevant facilities in Marin County.
Consider reuse and/or deconstruction first. While recycling these materials is better than landfilling them, it is always best to donate or sell materials that can be reused before their end of life. For more information, check out the Deconstruction Benefits and Best Practices section on this page.
Every applicant must download and complete a Construction C&D Recycling Plan. There are two options to choose from: The Easy Method (pdf) (184KB) or The Advanced Method (pdf) (187KB). Most contractors and project managers elect to bring their waste to a certified facility like Marin Resource Recovery Center (MRRC). For more information on which method to use, please reference our Zero Waste Marin C&D Forms section on this page.
Turn in the first two pages to your jurisdiction’s building department before starting work. Each jurisdiction may have slightly different requirements depending on their local practices or laws, so it’s important to work with the jurisdiction’s building department BEFORE the project to ensure your plan complies with their requirements.
Check out your jurisdiction’s permit process below:
Take all C&D materials to a Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility. The closest facilities are Marin Resource Recovery Center and Redwood Landfill; however, a full list of facilities can be found in the Certified C&D and Reuse Facilities section on this page. Keep a copy of all your weight tickets, which will be submitted with the final plan for verification purposes.
Prior to final inspection, complete the forms as follows:
Work with the Building Department staff to work through the paperwork and rectify any mistakes that may be holding up the permit approval process. Depending on the type and size of the project, an onsite inspection by the local jurisdiction or county may be warranted before the project is finalized. If your project has multiple permits, make sure to have records for each permit and any information that links these permits to the same project. Each jurisdiction may have slightly different requirements depending on their local practices or laws, so it’s important to work with the correct jurisdiction’s building department for guidance.
You can also fill out our Zero Waste Marin Contact Us form and our Senior Project Coordinator will get back to you within 48 hours.
Save and submit documentation of recycling once the project is complete. Check with your building department for how to submit the final documentation.
One form is required for each project that meets CALGreen requirements for waste diversion. The form can be filled out by the Project Owner or Contractor. It is recommended that the form be completed for any project that generates C&D debris.
The Easy Method is utilized to reuse as much recoverable materials as possible, then recycle all the remaining source-separated or mixed C&D debris at a Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility. Simply turn in all the Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility receipts attached to your Diversion Form at the end of the project.
The Advanced Method requires that the applicant prepare a Construction Waste Management. Plan detailing how C&D debris will be source separated, reused, recycled or otherwise diverted from landfill. Select this method if you intend to deliver building materials to a non-Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility and/or to assist in calculating and documenting C&D diversion that is higher than 65%.
All projects can utilize the Easy Method. The Advanced Method is an alternative that should be used if a Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility is not used for C&D recycling, or to assist in calculating and documenting C&D diversion that is higher than 65%.
Collect all receipts, or “weight tickets,” from Zero Waste Marin Certified Facilities and/or other non-certified facilities used for reuse or recycling of C&D debris from your project. Remember to ask for your mixed C&D load to be sorted for recycling.
No. Facilities are listed in order of proximity to Marin County, by category. Please use the Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility that best fits the needs of your project.
Asphalt Shingle Recyclers, LLC**
beegreen.green
5900 Coliseum Way.
Oakland, CA 94621
(510) 636-1166
Commercial Waste & Recycling, LLC
beegreen.green
725 Independent Rd.
Oakland, CA 94621
(510) 636-0852
Davis Street Transfer Station
davisstreet.wm.com
2615 Davis St.
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 563-4214
Devlin Road Recycling and Transfer Facility
davisstreet.wm.com
889 Devlin Rd.
American Canyon, CA 94503
(707) 256-3500 x1222
Marin Resource Recovery Center
marinresourcerecoverycenter.com
565 Jacoby St.
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 485-5646
Redwood Landfill and Recycling Center
redwoodlandfill.wm.com
8950 Redwood Hwy.
Novato, CA 94945
(415) 892-2851
West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill
co.contra-costa.ca.us
1 Parr Blvd.
Richmond, CA 94801
(510) 970-7246
Windsor Material Recovery Facility
pacificsanitation.com
590 Caletti Ave.
Windsor, CA 95492
(707) 838-2597
Building Resources
buildingresources.wordpress.com
701 Amador St.
San Francisco, CA 94124
9:00 am – 4:00 pm Mon – Sun
(415) 285-7814
Green Lynx
buildingresources.wordpress.com
3220 Santa Rosa Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Winter Hours:
Thur-Fri 10am – 5 pm, Sat 10am – 4pm.
Tues & Wed by appointment only.
(415) 890-5880
Heritage Salvage
heritagesalvage.com
1473 Petaluma Blvd. So.
Petaluma, CA 94952
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Mon – Fri
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Sat
(707) 762-6277
ReStore
habitat.org/restores
1201 Piner Road, Suite 500
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
110:00 am – 5:00 pm Sat
(707) 568-3228
Urban Ore
urbanore.com
900 Murray St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon – Sat
10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sun
(510) 914-2701
The Reuse People
thereusepeople.org
9235 San Leandro St.
Oakland, CA 94603
10:00 am – 6:00 pm Mon – Fri
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Tues – Thurs
(888) 588-9490
* Facilities that do not have solid waste permits and handle only source separated non-solid waste materials.
** Asphalt Shingle Recyclers only accepts source separated asphalt shingles and inserts.
For information on proper disposal of treated wood, please visit our Legislation page.
Deconstruct
Reuse
Recycle
Divert from Landfill
CALGreen requires a minimum of 65% percent diversion of waste generated during most construction, remodel, and demolitions projects. Some certification programs, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design), have even higher diversion/recycling requirements to receive certification. To increase your project’s diversion of waste from the landfill, consider deconstruction and reuse of materials first. Deconstruction is the best way to maintain the value of your construction and demolition (C&D) materials, and reusing is also far more sustainable than recycling.
Zero Waste Marin recommends using a Certified Facility to ensure proper recycling of C&D debris materials including: wood, metal, asphalt, brick, concrete, tile and other waste. Refer to the Certified C&D and Reuse Facilities list for more details.
For private residents intending to either demolish or substantially change their home’s footprint, consider that deconstruction:
Making this option available to your clients requires training, preparation, and connections with deconstruction specialists and resale locations.
Here are some helpful Zero Waste Marin recommendations to make your deconstruction process successful:
Contact an independent reuse expert to determine what materials can be salvaged such as flooring, lumber, furniture, and light fixtures, and more. A list of the region’s reuse facilities can be found below.
Building Resources
buildingresources
701 Amador St.
San Francisco, CA 94124
9:00 am – 4:00 pm Mon – Sun
(415) 285-7814
Green Lynx
buildingresources
3220 Santa Rosa Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Winter Hours:
Thur-Fri 10am – 5 pm, Sat 10am – 4pm.
Tues & Wed by appointment only.
(415) 890-5880
Heritage Salvage
heritagesalvage.com
1473 Petaluma Blvd. So.
Petaluma, CA 94952
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Mon – Fri
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Sat
(707) 762-6277
ReStore
habitat.org/restores
1201 Piner Road, Suite 500
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
110:00 am – 5:00 pm Sat
(707) 568-3228
Urban Ore
urbanore.com
900 Murray St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon – Sat
10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sun
(510) 914-2701
The Reuse People
thereusepeople.org
9235 San Leandro St.
Oakland, CA 94603
10:00 am – 6:00 pm Mon – Fri
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Tues – Thurs
(888) 588-9490
Obtain and provide a cost proposal to your client for deconstruction or contact a deconstruction company to provide you with an estimate. Not every project has valuable materials that can be recovered and reused, but most do.
Apply for demolition permit (may differ depending upon the jurisdiction).
Deconstruct the building using industry best practices and maximizing recovery of materials.
Document the amount and value of donated materials, as well as any materials that are not able to be donated. If these materials are delivered to a Zero Waste Marin certified facility, you can still use the Easy Method on the C&D Diversion form which is required to have your permit approved.
NOTE: The value of the salvaged materials can be used by your clients as a tax write-off if desired; this requires a qualified third-party appraiser if the value exceeds $5,000. Many of these businesses/certified facilities have a list of certified appraisers that they consistently work with, who will ensure you get an accurate value of all items that can be reused.
Salvaged materials can be dropped off at reuse stores for little to no fees and repurposed for new construction – a benefit that can set your business apart from the competition! Be sure to call the facilities before you drop off materials to ensure they will take what you have salvaged. The C&D Diversion Form, which is distributed at building counters throughout Marin County, is designed so that you can bring material for donation to certified reuse centers.
Want to learn more? Fill out our contact us form and we will reach out to you with more information.
The Mandatory Water Efficiency Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) requires all landscaping projects that require a building permit, plan check, or design review to follow a Landscape Plan. This is to ensure that landscapes and irrigation systems are designed with sustainability in mind, especially for resource and water conservation.
Marin Water and North Marin Water District are available to help you with your landscaping plan. Please see the links below for additional information:
Ever wondered what happens to construction and demolition debris after it leaves your job site? Follow a debris box to find out!
Picture this: your debris box of yard waste is full, and you’ve just called your hauler to come pick it up from your job site. Using a hook-lift system the driver pulls the container onto a roll-off truck, covers the load, and drives to a Certified C&D Facility, such as the Marin Resource Recovery Center (MRRC) in San Rafael, to process the material for recovery.
When the debris box arrives at MRRC, staff first go to the scales to record how much material was collected. The driver then takes it to the tipping floor, opening the back door on the end of the debris box and raising the truck’s hydraulically operated bed to allow the yard waste to fall free. Staff check to make sure no contaminants (e.g., garbage) have found their way into this “clean green” debris box.
Since this yard waste was source separated at the job site, it gets added directly to the pile of green waste awaiting further processing. Each day, staff feed this material into an industrial grinder that shreds green waste into mulch, achieving a uniformity in the size of mulch pieces by screening chips through a trommel. This step ensures consistency and supports marketability of the finished product.
Mulch is loaded directly from this processing system into large transfer trucks. Buyers purchase the material for biomass energy production, landscaping mulch, and other marketable end uses.
Separation of materials at the job site using dedicated debris boxes provides a clean waste stream that can be more easily processed into new products. This result can be achieved if C&D materials are comingled, but, separating recyclable material afterwards adds cost, increases the likelihood of contamination, and decreases the chances for its highest and best use.
For example, unpainted sheet rock is often source separated and, since it is made of gypsum, recovered by grinding it down for use as a soil amendment. Sheetrock easily breaks apart and if added to a mixed C&D debris box its chances for full recovery are reduced: small pieces are easily lost through the sorting process which end up in the residual materials taken to landfill. When possible, best practice is to source separate materials at the job site to achieve a higher rate of recovery for your project.
At MRRC, mixed C&D loads travel over a sort line to recover as much as possible including, but not limited to, sheetrock, concrete, brick, and bulky items. Each month, MRRC processes approximately 3,000 tons of recyclables through a customized system of screens, conveyors, blowers, magnets in addition to using hand-sorting to maximize recovery. Recovered materials are then marketed by MRRC, and any remaining residual is sent to landfill. All Certified C&D Facilities approved by Zero Waste Marin achieve greater than 65% diversion of waste from landfill. If you are careful to request that your debris box hauler delivers all job site debris to one of the Certified C&D Facilities,
recycling (and compliance with State Building Code) is easy to document. If you deliver mixed C&D materials yourself, be sure to ask that your load be processed for recycling!
Taking these steps will increase the amount of materials your project can divert from landfill disposal and saves resources by helping C&D waste become useful recycled products.
After completion of your project, you must submit your Waste Management Plan with the weight tickets included to your city’s Building Department/Community Development Agency. For instance, if the project took place in the unincorporated county, you would submit the plan to the County’s Community Development Agency. Each jurisdiction handles the submission process differently, but generally you can bring it to them in person or submit it all via email.
The project manager or contractor is responsible for directing C&D materials for recycling. When possible, consider deconstruction and reuse first. If space and time allow, provide multiple on-site debris boxes for separating materials such as clean wood and metal for recycling.
Taking Mixed C&D debris to a Zero Waste Marin Certified Facility is strongly recommended to ensure compliance with state and local laws. The list of Zero Waste Marin Certified Facilities can be found above and is also included in the C&D Diversion form.
If taking mixed C&D debris to Redwood Landfill, make sure you request the materials to be sorted for recycling.
Focus on reuse and deconstruction first. Source separation of materials at your project site will increase diversion. Many Zero Waste Marin Certified Facilities specialize in reuse and deconstruction to support the highest and best use of building materials. Reuse and deconstruction practices can also assist with Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) and other green building project certifications. Recycling of C&D debris is required by state law.
Take all remaining C&D debris to a Certified Facility for recycling and be sure to ask that mixed materials be sorted for recycling!
Claim the diversion rate set by the Certified Facility used for recycling C&D debris.
CALGreen requires a minimum of 65% of C&D waste to be recycled and/or salvaged for reuse, or that permit applicants meet a local C&D ordinance, whichever is more stringent.
Projects with a demolition-only permit (not included with a construction permit) are outside the scope of the CALGreen building code. Contact your jurisdiction to learn about recycling requirements in demolition-only projects should they occur.
Non-residential:
Residential:
PROTECTING OUR RESOURCES TOGETHER