founded 1920 1 headquarters 50 california street 24th floor san francisco ca 415 875 1000 or 800 652 1275 san francisco california 94111 9796 area served united states revenue usd 800 million 2015 number of employees approx 3 000 people 2015 website official website aerial view of recology san francisco recology s dump transfer station . recology is an integrated resource recovery company headquartered in san francisco california . the company collects and processes municipal solid waste reclaiming useful materials that would have otherwise been buried in a landfill . the company also operates transfer stations materials recovery facilities mrfs a number of landfills and continues to spearhead renewable energy projects . recology is the largest organics compost facility operator by volume in the united states . recology inc. is the parent to approximately 40 subsidiaries including recology san francisco recology los angeles recology cleanscapes seattle and recology portland . these subsidiaries partner with approximately 127 communities in california washington oregon and nevada helping over 700 000 residential and 100 000 commercial customers divert material from landfills . recology operates a number of facilities 13 transfer stations 11 materials recovery facilities 10 organics processing facilities 4 landfills recology is responsible for achieving the highest landfill diversion rate in the country through collaboration with the city of san francisco which created a mandatory recycling and composting ordinance . in april 2009 recology formerly known as norcal waste systems inc. changed its name to reflect its culture and values and the activities in which it was already heavily invested . the name recology is a combination of the words recycle and ecology . contents 1 description 2 history 3 organics recycling 4 community 5 employee ownership 6 artist in residence program 7 challenge of san francisco franchise 8 references 9 external links 10 see also description edit recology promotes recycling composting and other waste reduction programs to minimize the amount of materials sent to landfills . 2 the company has explored technologies to facilitate landfill diversion and developed programs to transform landfill bound materials into their next best and highest use including bulky item collection and donations food scrap collection programs and anaerobic digestion facilities . the company has advanced the conversion of organics into biogas to generate electricity . recology hay road uses gas captured from the landfill to power an engine that converts it to electricity producing 1.6 megawatts of electricity continuously which is enough to power up to 1 600 homes . just south of san francisco recology brings solid and residential waste from recology san mateo county to the shoreway environmental center a large multi purpose recycling center and materials recovery facility that is operated by south bay recycling a joint venture between recology and potential industries . in early 2009 after an investigation the company obtained a court order against various organized illegal poachers who were raiding curbside recycling containers to sell the contents for scrap . 3 as of 2015 the company employed approximately 3 000 employees with revenues of approx 800 million . the company is 100 % employee owned through an employee stock ownership plan esop . recology is the largest esop in the industry . citation needed history edit the company has a long history in the bay area and holds a no bid contract for garbage collection in san francisco . in 1932 the city granted a permanent concession to the city s 97 independent garbage collectors ; shortly thereafter those 97 independents banded together to form the company that would become norcal waste systems . 4 since that time the company has held a permanent no bid no franchise fee contract to collect the city s garbage and recyclables . the company works closely with sf environment to achieve the city s diversion and sustainability goals . organics recycling edit recology is the first company in the united states to implement a citywide curbside composting program . through composting and landfill diversion recology helps offset the harmful effects of co2 emissions . today recology compost is used by growers across california oregon and washington including over 200 vineyards in napa and sonoma . community edit in an effort to increase landfill diversion and decrease refuse tonnages recology companies provide environmental outreach programs within the communities it serves . such programs include informational and hands on educational presentations and resources as well as community clean up programs to help customers understand and participate in collection and recycling services . recology also partners with schools community groups and non profit organizations . employee ownership edit recology is a 100 % employee owned corporation through an employee stock ownership plan esop . as an esop minority and or women employees own more than 56 % of the value of recology . no individual owns more than 0.4 % of the value of recology . the esop was formed effective october 1 1985 . artist in residence program edit recology also created an artist in residence program in 1990 allowing local artists to use materials found in its materials recovery and processing facilities to create art . it was the first and for a long period only such program in the united states . 5 6 among the program s alumni is nathaniel stookey who composed junkestra a classical music composition for thirty instruments made out of the company s refuse . 7 8 another alum terry berlier now sits on the board of the program . 9 recology has expanded the program to enable materials recovery work by artists in portland oregon through the pacific northwest art program pnap now called glean . the program sponsors professional artists for six months and gives them access to the transfer station where they create art to raise awareness about over consumption and natural resource depletion . challenge of san francisco franchise edit in 2012 citizens of san francisco sought to end recology s monopoly on waste collection through a city wide referendum . residents tony kelly and retired judge quentin kopp collected enough signatures to put proposition a on the city s ballot . proposition a sought to break up the city s current waste collection arrangement into 5 separate competitive bid contracts . recology spent close to 1.5 m on the referendum campaign seeking to defeat the measure . proponents of prop a spent approximately 55 000 . 10 the measure was soundly defeated with 77 % of the vote going against prop a. 11 references edit recology history . recology inc. retrieved 6 march 2012 . adele peters and julia levitt 2009 03 03 . designing a zero waste city a visit to the san francisco dump . world changing . kelly zito 2009 03 07 . judge orders scavengers to stop raiding trash . san francisco chronicle . elizabeth lesley stevens 2011 06 09 . picking up the city s garbage is a sweet deal and a monopoly . new york times . reyhan harmanci 2006 04 20 . is it garbage or is it art artists in residence norcal waste allows artists to dig through the dump and create beauty . san francisco chronicle . patricia leigh brown 2005 01 26 . a makeover for trash ; now it s art . new york times . tyche hendricks 2007 10 21 . junk orchestra will spotlight recycling . san francisco chronicle . joshua korman 2007 11 11 . garbage in music out . san francisco chronicle . cerankowski karla ; wander robin 4 october 2012 . stanford artist terry berlier makes art from trash and from a twisted home . stanford report . retrieved 6 march 2016 . j. wildermuth 2012 05 31 . recology spends 1.5 million to oppose prop a . sfgate . dan mcmenamin 2012 06 05 . sf voters reject garbage measure approve coit tower initiative . san francisco appeal . external links edit recology official website businesswire.com recology redefines the waste industry for good recology blog recology media site see also edit recycling in the united states resource recovery retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title recology & oldid 743699767 categories companies based in san franciscoresource recovery and renewables companiesemployee owned companies of the united stateshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 19 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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