Recology Sonoma Marin in
Novato (CA)

Could not be easier! The person who checks me in is always nice and recognizes me as a repeat visitor. The staff inside who empty my hazardous waste are fast and very nice. I have absolutely NO complaints! THANK YOU!

I recently did a facility tour of their recycling center in Santa Rosa. Everyone we talked to was very friendly and helpful. The workers are very proud of the work they do and take great pride in their work. I’m glad I have Recology as my waste company.

Every week, someone on our street of 6 houses, doesn't get their green waste picked up!

It’s unbelievable how bad this company is at customer service and communications. It must be nice to have government contracts like this ridiculous company. They should be ashamed of themselves. They never return messages ever. Not through their preferred method of email or phone calls. They don’t care about anyone at all.

I don't understand why this place doesn't have a 5 star review for being the ONLY place in town that cares for the environment... God bless those girls for how good they work and I give them 10 stars to keep pushing for a better world... shame on people for not giving a great review

I’m glad we have the option for recycling to get money back, but it is very frustrating when someone shows up with two pickup bed of bags and cans and won’t let you pass. There should be a limit of bags to require returning with a reservation during the week for these people to return multiple bags.

I couldn’t imagine running my business this way. The owner and employees should be ashamed of themselves, no respect for others. The main lady, apparently the only actual employee, was the worst of the bunch which is saying a lot as the other workers are paying off fines or something. I showed up 2 minutes after 4pm and the employees were doing nothing, just standing around laughing. Yet they wouldn’t take my cans and bottles because they closed… 2 minutes ago, and another person drove up at the same time and were turned away also. It was so early, only 4 pm in the afternoon and they feel like they can close, even though we are the ones supporting the idiotic California recycling program, aka giving them a job. We get charged extra for a can or bottle just so the state, sorry just so we the ca residents can spend extra money staffing and paying for public can/bottle redemption and causing way more effort for everybody. I’m sure it’s great for the environment for me to drive a car to the recycling place and then to the bank (because everyone still uses checks and they are so convenient). On top of that I now have to go to novato because San Rafael decided they don’t need to publicly accept cans or bottles anymore. They instead charge you to pick up your cans that they make money from. I’m sure theyre wondering why they ever bothered to do the right thing when they can make so much money by screwing us. Yes I could take my cans to Safeway or gas station or wherever but then I need to count every can and bottle, and let me know how it goes taking a thousand cans to chevron. The people who redeem the most cans and bottles aren’t the ones who paid the deposit and drank the beverage. This means the whole program doesn’t work and should be shut down or drastically changed. Everyone needs to recycle and it should be illegal not to. $.05 isn’t enough to get most people to change, but if you fined them $1000s and threatened them with jail then it would change some behavior. I was just at a Washington state park and they had 0 recycling bins of any kind in the entire park. Hard to say any of it matters when some places force you to throw away recyclables and don’t care about anyone other then themself. Update: went back during open hours and was turned away again because I didn’t bring my id. I was also disrespected by two employees. I literally pulled up and smiled at one and said hello and got mean mugged back and no response. I’m guessing the id things has something to do with giving checks instead of cash and maybe they keep track of recyclers to catch fraud like cans being redeemed when bought without a deposit from out of state. However they created the whole problem. Another way this recycling program is succeeding is by creating the ability for people to buy water bottles with ebt (tax payers money) and immediately dump the water and redeem them for money. This is actually happening. I’m sure that’s really good for the environment, and we can rest assured as Californians that we are protecting the planet.. I mean we’re helping people make money and creating jobs because all those extra bottles being processed. I think they just explained the program incorrectly, it should have been “Lets see how far we can push bull sh** on the public and at the same time force them to pay for it”. Maybe most don’t understand this but California has almost no recycling compared to other places that actually care about it. Majority of what we throw away has a potential for re use or recyclable. Like styrofoam, it can be recycled but majority is not. I suggest we get rid of all the recycling programs that are all voluntary and make it mandatory. Instead of making us jump through hoops while patting our head and touching our nose to get $.05 back that we paid in the first place, charge people $500 if they don’t recycle the can. And actually enforce it.

Bring ID and take caps off your plastic bottles. Workers were fast and kind. No complaints. Avg wait time, I'd guess around 15 mins.

Why pick at 5.35 AM in a quiet neighborhood in which there is essentially zero traffic any time of day? What gives Recology the right to come into our homes and wake us up, week after week. Why can't they operate during daylight hours?

You have to take off your bottle tops or you'll be turned away. Luckily I had cans so it wasn't a total loss. I had seen in the website that you could have bottle tops and I brought that up to the worker and he said they're trying to change the website. So I called the main office to find out the final say in the matter. The main office said to take off the caps because they can explode during processing at the recycling plant there. They also said when you put them in bins at home they are processed different so you can leave the caps on. I'm not sure how to take all this because in San Francisco on Bayshore you just bring everything in as is (dirty, lids, etc) and you get cold hard cash on the spot. Not even a check like Novato recycling center. But when I'm helping my Marin family members I guess we'll just go to whichever is convenient.

Terrible service. We showed up 2.5 hours before they closed with admittedly a lot of recycling (we had a pandemic's worth bottles and cans). They told us that the caps on the plastic bottles needed to be taken off. We spent a couple of hours sifting through about 20+ bags to make sure the caps were off. The entire time we were cap sifting we allowed them to help other customers. We were filling bins up the entire time waiting patiently on them to empty them so we could get more bins to fill up. 15 minutes to close, with about 8 more bags to go, they said we had to bring them back another day because they were closing. When we protested they said that they only accept up to 100lbs of recycling. There were 3 of us, so that should have amounted to 300lbs (100lbs for each of us). When we pointed this out, they were visibly annoyed. Then they said that we weren't prepared because the caps weren't off. We asked how we were supposed to know this? They said that it was stated on the website and that we should have done our research before coming and that is not their responsibility. I challenge you to find anywhere on their website where they explain that caps need to be removed. I only found one place that mentioned caps and it actually tells you to leave them on (photo attached to review)! Recycling is not supposed to be inconvenient. The service and employees make recycling a burden. The staff lied, was rude, unaccommodating, and unhelpful. Will not be going back!

Recology Sonoma-Marin has wonderful staff that are always helpful and kind. Any time I have issues or questions about service they are timely in getting back to me and helping with my needs. Wonderful!

It was terrible. Website says they take paint cans. When I got there they said "no" You must make an apt online which was also too much! Pages and pages and pages of info. Apt page was hidden somewhere? It did not work for me. So I took my paint cans home.

Our apartment complex just changed to Recology. We got recycling bins, yay! Too bad Recology NEVER picks it up. Now the trash has recycling in it and both bins are overflowing. Trash all over the parking lots. Local pests will be here soon I'm sure. Terrible to see this.

Have been there 3 or 4 times over the past 7 years, but only out of necessity. Was routinely little more than tolerated, and treated as though I were an annoyance. Granted, recycling may not be a stimulating or particularly rewarding career, but it's a long way from being conscripted to haul stone for constructing the Great Pyramid of Giza!

My husband called early Am on Saturday Nov, 29, 2020. and spooked to a lady and she said come on in we are open till 2 pm. On the web site shows till 4pm. We arrived at the recycling center at the right address, my husband was unloading his truck and inside of the back seat. A lady named Beth said do you have a appointment schedule, he said no. I was told I could bring my recycling down. She said no appointment no service. We are open till 2pm. She did not mention to him regarding any appointments. We called back and a girl answered. My husband asked to speak to their supervisor, supervisor is not in and you are at the wrong address. We are located at 6200 Redwood road. We was at 7576 Redwood Blvd, Novato, Calif at 9494.they lied to him and me. If you are going to run a recycling center you should have people who want to work and not turn you away it's bad for business. It sounded like Beth did not want to work. And the girl on the phone lied be called back again she said we are closing in 2 minutes and this was at 1 p.m..

Always guessing weights and measures on recyclables and making sure the customer can't see what they write. With the requirement Covid scare appointments at least 2 weeks in advance, recyclables will go straight to the landfill. Not worth the time or money like all bureaucratic agencies of California.

Service is poor to nonexistent. Location manager is mean sprited & absolutely dreadful every single time I have used this facility. Apparently she is the only actual employee that works in receiving/customer service. The rest usually 2 are people doing work furloughs to pay off county fines & such. The one time I have had even an OK experience there was when she had left 2 of those work furloughs unattended for some reason & I managed to get in & out before her return. Unfortunately if you recycle for cash they are the only game around or you spend what you make in cash on gas & you're lucky if you break even.

Glad to finally get rid of my bottles, but even with appt, process seemed unorganized. I was ignored for 10 minutes should be someone to answer customer questions AND customers should read the darn sign that says appointment required.

They miss our yard waste pickup regularly. Nice on phone but they keep missing it... Picked it up 5 days late on Labor Day, go figure..

I walked from my house in downtown Novato to the Center. At first they refused to accept my stuff because I wasn’t driving it in. Only after explaining I didn’t drive did they accept it. Seemed rather strange; I wasn’t coming to sell bottles and/or aluminum cans- that’s done other times- but trying to be ecologically conscious. I guess they don’t realize that not driving is also good for the environment- that it’s okay to trash the earth via a motor vehicle but not okay to do the same with any other type type of waste. They were rude. I’d rather go somewhere else to dispose of toxic waste.

In the time that Recology became the new waste management company here in West Marin, I've needed to replace a split recycle toter; they replaced it at my next pickup (our pick up day is Monday). I've needed to order the next size up trash toter, and they also replaced that at my next delivery pick-up. In addition, I requested a bulky item pick-up of a queen box-spring, and that was also picked up in a timely manner. Our trash/recycle pick-up was missed one day in the last year, and when I called they came out that day to get it. My phone wait time on average has been 5 minutes to speak to someone there, and they've been pleasant and informative, giving me the pricing info I need, and helping me to navigate their new website, which was glitchy, as all new websites can be... Yesterday was our biannual, free bulky item pick-up day, but when I returned home I saw no one in our area had theirs removed, so I called this morning (as I'm sure others had). The message was passed on and it's all been picked up. They probably just ran out of time/truck space. My experience overall with Recology has been just fine. Maybe I'm just in an area that experiences fewer issues; who knows? I do believe that communication on both sides is key: trash hauling is an imperfect science susceptible to many variables. I hope the company can continue to improve so everyone everywhere can expect reliable service. And speaking only for me: I am working diligently on reducing my consumer goods consumption so that my trash output is next to nothing; our earth needs a break...

Very unhelpful staff, they saw us to walk in and closed door on our face and after that said we are going on break , very unrespectful way. Maybe as a suggestion , they need to posted they breaks schedule online , so everybody can schedule accordly

People here are always pleasant and work hard. The wait time, certain times of the day is long otherwise access is very easy. Unfortunately they don't accept waste oil anymore, someone had to screw that up for the rest of us

Calling Recology a garbage company goes two ways, in the literal sense that they pick up and dispose of trash and that the company itself is garbage. Apparently no one at this company likes to do their job. Garbage pick up day on our street is on Wednesday and guess what? Its now Saturday and the garbage is still in front of everyone's house. What sin have we committed that the garbage men will not grace our street? That I do not know. Anyways, this so called company has a rule that essentially punishes the customer when their employees dont do their job. If they "forget" your street and dont call within 24 hours they charge you for that pickup. What a business practice! And if you dare call within 24 hours they will fill your hopeful head with promises that one day the garbage will be picked up. Alas this is but a fleeting wish.

I put out an extra garbage can with a large note asking the garbage man to empty it. He left it full. Then I called and asked them to come back and dump it. They said they would. They didn't. Called again. They said they would dump it for a 12.00 fee. I said fine. Never showed... To bad we can't hire another company. It seems that they know there isn't any other options because if there was. I would FIRE thwm

This is the worst collection company I have ever experienced. If I could cancel my service with them I would. Despite many other complaints about them, the worst is that they feel that its okay to come and collect the recycle at 4:45am and then return at 5:15am to collect the garbage. This is even after many phone calls complaining to the company.