About Us - Recology
California
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Oregon
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Our Mission & Vision

Recology: A World Without Waste

The Recology mission represents a fundamental shift from traditional waste management to resource recovery. We seek to eliminate waste by developing and discovering sustainable resource recovery practices that can be implemented globally.

Recology Builds Exceptional Resource Ecosystems

This begins by creating a resource ecosystem – one that both protects the environment and sustains the local community. It’s a ‘closed loop’ ecosystem that makes it possible for the communities Recology serves to achieve high landfill diversion and meet sustainability goals.

  • Collection – Identify the needs of the community and propose and implement programs to collect and process materials.
  • Recovery – Design sorting strategies, deploy a three-bin system, and establish outreach and education programs.
  • Processing – Build infrastructure that includes machinery and technologies to extract and sort raw materials.
  • Marketing & Commodities – Ensure that recycled commodities are sold to manufacturers that will create further recyclable consumer goods.
Employee-Owned

Because Recology is 100% employee owned, we have a heightened sense of commitment to the company, our goals, and to customer satisfaction in the communities in which we serve. How we perform is a direct reflection of us as individuals, and we take that very seriously.

How Employee Ownership Benefits Your Community

We are dedicated partners to the many communities we serve, as we are members of those communities ourselves. We have local offices in every service area, which means that our employees often live and work in the communities they serve.

We have a strong culture of teamwork and accountability, and our incentive for improvement comes from the inside, as we’re not bound to external shareholders. This means we can quickly push forward with new innovations and environmental initiatives, discovering new methods for reaching our mission of Waste Zero.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

Recology became 100% employee owned in 1986, through the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The Recology ESOP provides our employees with a supplemental retirement plan alongside their 401(K) or pension, and comprehensive benefits package.

Interested in working with Recology and becoming an employee-owner? Apply here.

Meet an Employee Owner

Photo of Sean

Sean
Driver, Recology Vacaville Solano

Hometown: San Carlos
Joined Recology: 2010

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know customers along on my route, and therefore have friends to see everyday. There’s even a mom and son duo that wait for me outside their house every week. Her little boy loves trucks. I always wave, and one time I stopped to let him look inside the cab at the controls. Small things like this make my day.

Photo of Mia

Mia
Waste Zero Manager, Recology San Mateo County

Hometown: San Carlos
Joined Recology: 2010

“As a third generation Recology employee, I grew up with a fascination and love for the industry. My grandfather joined the company after he migrated from Italy in 1956 and was one of the original scavengers with Golden Gate Disposal. To this day, my dad has worked for Recology as a long haul driver for 40 years, and I have been on board for 7 years and was just promoted to my new role of Waste Zero Manager.”

Where We Serve

Recology has over 26 collections companies that provide integrated services to more than 2.5 million individuals and more than 100,000 commercial customers in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Our History

Over 100 Years of Service

We’ve been recycling long before there was even an industry for it. Our founders immigrated to San Francisco in the mid 1800’s looking for opportunity and they eventually found work doing what no one else wanted to do – picking up other people’s garbage.

They called themselves scavengers – in fact, the Recology Sunset Scavenger company name is a nod to these same founders. The original scavengers sorted through trash to find what was salvageable by rewashing, repackaging, and selling bottles, and by sorting and separating rags and papers from other refuse materials. Little did they know that they were creating a foundation for our current business model today.

To this day, many of our employees are descendants of our Italian founders.

Key Milestones

  • By 1921, the San Francisco scavengers became an organized business, along with other small collectors in the area. Two major companies emerged – Scavenger’s Protective Association and Sunset Scavenger Company. Both companies were given exclusive refuse collection licenses for the City of San Francisco. These licenses are still held today.
  • In 1935, the two collection companies formed Sanitary Fill Company (today known as Recology San Francisco), the first of a number of jointly owned subsidiaries. Sanitary Fill Company’s charter was to develop disposal capacity for the increasingly large amount of refuse that was overwhelming the City. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, both San Francisco collection companies grew and expanded their services to keep pace with San Francisco’s growth.
  • In 1965, as part of a modernization program, Scavenger’s Protective Association changed its name to Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling Company. Sunset continued to operate from a site that had previously been a landfill near the San Francisco/San Mateo County line.
  • In 1983, with aim toward expansion, the company – called Golden Gate Disposal – was reorganized as Norcal Solid Waste Systems.
  • In 1986, Norcal was sold to its 570 employees and their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to ensure Norcal’s independence.
  • In 1987, Norcal purchased Envirocal (formerly Sunset Scavenger). With this merger, Norcal became one of the nation’s 10 largest 100%-employee-owned companies, with a substantial minority representation among its shareholders.
  • In 2009, Norcal Waste Systems changed its name to Recology Inc. to reflect its commitment to sustainable practices.
  • As of 2016, Recology employee owners proudly serve 127 communities throughout California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.
Our Leadership

Executive Team

Photo of Salvatore “Sal” Coniglio
Salvatore “Sal” Coniglio
Chief Executive Officer
Photo of Cary Chen
Cary Chen
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal & Risk Officer
Photo of Mario Puccinelli
Mario Puccinelli
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Photo of Meghan Butler
Meghan Butler
Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
Photo of Jessica Ernst
Jessica Ernst
Senior Vice President, Chief People and Human Resources Officer
Photo of Gordon Heneweer
Gordon Heneweer
Chief Financial Officer