Norcal Waste is now Recology

[Gary Liss]

FYI - Norcal Waste is one of the largest discards and recyclables haulers in California
Norcal Waste Systems Redefines the Waste Industry For Good

The Leaders in Resource Recovery Unveil New Corporate Name and Philosophy that Redefines the Solid Waste Management Industry

San Francisco, Calif. (April 27, 2009) - Norcal Waste Systems announced today that it formally changed its corporate name to Recology™. The name change is rooted in the company's 89-year heritage as one of the nation's first urban recyclers. Recology, with clear roots in words like recycling, renewal, reuse and reduction, signals that the company will be leading the evolution of the industry-eliminating waste from the vocabulary of consumer and industry alike. The new name, Recology, supports the company's unique record of success in driving resource recovery and composting services to unparalleled levels.

"We are changing our name because our business has changed, and we choose to be leaders in the growth of resource recovery," says Mike Sangiacomo, President & Chief Executive Officer of Recology. "Our industry is no longer about waste management, it is about waste zero and our new name, Recology, will help move us away from the mentality of disposal to a mandate to use less of what we have and get more from what we use."

For almost a century, the former Norcal Waste Systems has translated ideas into action, good intentions into outstanding service and innovation into true industry leadership. Serving as one of the nation's first urban recyclers, the company pioneered turning residential composting from a small waste collection sideline into a major part of community sustainability. In 2000, Norcal met San Francisco's then incredibly ambitious goal of diverting 50 percent of waste from landfills. Today, the company is well on the task of the City's globally admired objective of zero waste.

"We are determined to erase our limitations, overcome our challenges and build on our opportunities," says Sangiacomo. According to Sangiacomo, Recology has even adopted a new rallying cry - Waste Zero.

The company has not only changed its name, it has changed its corporate headquarters. The Recologists at Recology are now at home in a new Gold LEED-designed corporate office located at 50 California Street on the 24th floor in downtown San Francisco. Environmentally, the new office space will achieve the highest performance certification practical in this building, saving major amounts of energy, water and money. The new office space also has a few homegrown examples of ingenuity, including furniture constructed from recycled materials by an artist at the company's Artists in Residence program.

Former Norcal Waste Systems has a rich and proud tradition of service. The company has led the way in converting their neighborhood collection trucks to bio-diesel and other alternative fuels, built one of the first major commingled materials recycling facilities in the country, founded the internationally recognized Artist in Residence program and has been highly awarded as the largest employee-owned firm in its industry.

The company has done all this while serving more than 50 communities throughout California, expanding compost operations to Oregon, winning tough competitive bids for new contracts like San Mateo and finalizing plans for the nation's most advanced resource recovery facility.

"We are expanding our services and products, increasing our value to current and potential customers and working to win new contracts and form new partnerships throughout the nation," says Sangiacomo. "In the face of increasing opportunities, the name Norcal Waste Systems is too limiting in terms of the geography we serve and 'waste systems' does not reflect where we believe the industry is heading or our vision for the future."

With that, Norcal Waste Systems officially welcomes the world to its new corporate name, Recology. It is the new name for the company - a company that can, and will, change everything.

About Recology

Norcal Waste Systems, Inc. formally changed its corporate name to Recology. The company has taken this step to signal its determination to be a leader in the transformation from waste management to a new world of resource recovery and optimization. As part of this change, Recology has adopted a new rallying cry - Waste Zero. For more information about the new name and what it means for you, the communities it serves and the planet we all share, please visit www.recology.com .

Recology provides residential and commercial recycling, materials recovery, construction and demolition debris recycling, large-scale composting of food scraps and organic waste, compost sales, waste collection, transfer, landfill operations, green planning and administration.


For Immediate Release
April 27, 2009

Media Contact:
Adam Alberti
Office: (415) 227-9700
Cell: (415) 225-2443
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Source: http://www.recology.com/news.html

Gary Liss       
916-652-7850    
Fax: 916-652-0485
www.garyliss.com

[Dan Knapp]

Thanks, Gary.  With all respect due to Norcal for their welcome conceptual shift, I do not understand their desire to "move away from the mentality of disposal".  If this move were to be carried out literally, wouldn't it be fatal to their entire operation, since the core meaning of the shift is to change the way unwanted things are disposed of from wasting disposal to conserving disposal?

Words do make a difference.  Yours for recycling disposal, reuse disposal, and composting disposal as highly competitive practices for discard supply management that are vying for market share with wasting disposal, a sunset industry.

And congratulations to NorCal, which by the way is an ESOP company.  

Dan Knapp

Urban Ore, Inc. a reuse and recycling disposal business since 1980