When items are thrown “away,” do you ever think of where “away” is? When you set your carts on the curb, the materials collected arrive at ReGen Monterey – your community resource for disposal, recycling, reuse and composting. Here at ReGen Monterey, we are working to reuse and recycle as many items as possible before we consider disposal in the landfill. With your help, we’re “doing more to waste less.”
The landfill is the final stop for about 550,000 tons of municipal solid waste delivered annually.
View accepted items and rates in ReGen’s Disposal Fee Guide, or learn more about ReGen’s disposal services.
The 461-acre Monterey Peninsula Landfill opened in 1965. It’s located in unincorporated Monterey County, two miles north of Marina, and it’s composed of “modules” that are developed one at a time. Working in distinct modules makes it easier to safely separate waste from the environment.
Our landfill is engineered with controls in place to protect our local environment and public health. Several layers of clay, sand and plastic that line each landfill module protect the environment from the buried trash. Leachate pipes collect and recirculate storm water and other liquids that have come in contact with trash, preventing the contamination of groundwater. Over 100 landfill gas collection wells also dot the landscape. They capture methane and transport it to our landfill gas-to-energy plant to create renewable power.
Multi-ton heavy equipment vehicles work the “open face” of the landfill, which is the active area of this facility that welcomes curbside collection vehicles and customers to dispose of their loads. It’s a busy landfill with hundreds of visitors a day, plus staff waiting to welcome guests and ensure their safety. Workers and guests can enjoy some of the most beautiful panoramic views in the state, featuring the patchwork farms of the Salinas Valley and the bright blue Monterey Bay.
Engineers estimate that at the current rate, our permitted landfill area has space for more than 100 years of waste disposal. With landfill space dwindling across the state, we are fortunate to have this valuable resource available for the communities we serve.
Residential and commercial customers can drop off many recyclable items free of charge at ReGen Monterey’s Recycling Drop-Off center. Along with recyclable materials collected curbside from your blue recycling cart, these items are taken to our on-site Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). We sort household recyclables, construction and demolition debris, commercial mixed waste, and other items at this innovative center.
Our MRF is a complex system that processes over 250 tons of recyclables a day. Materials travel over a mile of conveyor belts and are sorted with optical technology and the expertise of 30 employees.
Freight trucks line up daily at the rear of the MRF to collect the sorted glass and baled cardboard, mixed paper, aluminum and plastics #1, 2 and 5. They’re shipped to manufacturers who turn these materials into new products, which helps our society reduce the mining and manufacturing of virgin materials.
Our region is fortunate to have this engineering marvel, operated by hard-working sorting, engineering and maintenance professionals, in our community. Residents can be proud to know that recyclable items in their blue carts will truly be recycled. Let’s work together to reduce single-use materials and understand what belongs in your blue recycling carts, so we can avoid contaminating our recycling stream and continue being a sustainability leader in California. Let’s not waste this.
Learn more about recycling with ReGen.
Monterey County residents can put food scraps and yard waste in their green organics cart for curbside collection. Hundreds of self-haulers bring yard trimmings through ReGen Monterey’s scales to be processed into mulch and compost. Our on-site contractor, Keith Day Company, uses windrow technology to produce over 130,000 tons of quality compost from the community’s food scraps, forestry debris and yard trimmings every year.
ReGen Monterey is proud to encourage a local, circular economy: 100% of our compost is delivered to local farms in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Your compost helps grow more local food. Learn more about ReGen’s composting programs.
The Last Chance Mercantile, located at ReGen Monterey’s facility north of Marina, is the community’s source for low-cost clothing, housewares, furniture, books, building materials and other treasures. ReGen partners with the nonprofit Veterans Transition Center of California to operate the reuse store.
The public powers this unique and beloved store by donating items that can be reused, repurposed, reimagined and recycled by others. Thanks to your donations and purchases, you’re helping benefit local, homeless veterans and we are keeping reusable items out of the landfill. Learn how to donate and shop at the Last Chance Mercantile.
ReGen Monterey’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility accepts electronic waste, batteries, paint, household cleaners, lightbulbs, auto products, and other items from residents and small businesses within our service area. Nearly 60% of the materials collected here are offered back to the community free of charge at the Last Chance Mercantile.
Learn more about ReGen’s household hazardous waste programs.
For over forty years, ReGen Monterey has generated power from gases that get released as landfill waste breaks down. The system captures 9,000+ tons of methane annually. Today, our pioneering landfill gas-to-energy facility generates about five megawatts of clean alternative power each year. We use one megawatt to power our entire facility, while the remaining four megawatts are sent to the grid – and that’s enough to power 4,000 homes.
Learn more about ReGen’s Landfill Gas-to-Energy Facility.
According to a 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment by the Monterey County Health Needs Collaborative, over 40 percent of Monterey County residents are food insecure. ReGen Monterey offers resources to help feed local families in need while keeping edible food out of the landfill.
Learn more about how ReGen leads food recovery education campaigns, distributes grants to food rescue organizations, and connects food donors and nonprofits through tools like the Careit app.
Located on ReGen Monterey’s site, partners Keith Day Company and Don Chapin Company sell various landscaping and construction products, including finished compost, soil, sand, rock and wood chips made from recycled materials.
Learn more about landscape and ag products available at Keith Day Company.
For questions about weekly pick-up, including residential and commercial waste, recycling, and organics collection, please contact your curbside service provider: GreenWaste Recovery, Monterey City Disposal Service or Waste Management.
View the full list of curbside providers in Monterey County.
