Marin Sanitary Service President, Patty Garbarino, Inducted into 2025 Hall of Fame by The National Waste & Recycling Association Announces
The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) announced the list of 2025 Hall of Fame inductees, including Marin Sanitary Service’s President, Patty Garbarino.
“I am deeply honored to follow in my Father’s footsteps and be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Garbarino said. “This honor belongs to all the Marin Sanitary staff, the cities, and the residents that we serve every day. Together, we are recycling materials to make our community and the world a better place.”
The NWRA Hall of Fame is the ultimate waste and recycling industry recognition. Inductees are selected from among NWRA members who are industry visionaries and icons who have created an enduring legacy through their inspirational leadership, core values and significant contributions.
The Class of 2025 will join the 212 inductees from 1986-2024 who have helped guide, build and transform the industry into what it is today, including Patty’s father, Joseph Garbarino Jr., who received this distinction in 2014.
Patty and her father Joe are the first father/daughter combination to receive the Hall of Fame award.
The NWRA Hall of Fame Award is based on strict qualifying criteria. A selection committee reviews each application, using a point system to judge each applicant in several areas. Recommendations by the Selection Committee are then reviewed and voted on by the NWRA Board of Directors. The qualifying criteria includes:
How the Nominee is recognized within the industry as a founder, pioneer, visionary, or icon.
The enduring legacy and impact of contributions by the Nominee to the Industry for a minimum of 25 years.
The steadfast values exhibited by the Nominee, such as integrity, respect, courage, mentorship, volunteerism, and inclusiveness.
How the Nominee has demonstrated inspirational leadership as an NWRA service provider on issues important to NWRA at the national, state and/or local level.
Active NWRA engagement and service by the Nominee as an Ambassador of the industry through involvement with the association and/or NWRA’s chapters.
Ms. Garbarino exemplified these criteria in the following ways:
Company Leadership - Since 2000, Patty has served as President of Marin Sanitary Service, Marin Recycling, and the Marin Resource Recovery Center. In addition to her oversite of these entities, she is responsible for policy development and implementation. She remains directly involved in all aspects of the company’s governmental and community relations, as well as the Public Education Program.
HHW Facility - More than 20 years ago, Patty lobbied the county to establish an HHW collection facility to eliminate illegal dumping on county roads or in trash containers. That program continues to be convenient and successful for the citizens, businesses, and environment in Marin County.
Food 2 Energy (F2E) - Patty was instrumental in establishing a partnership with the Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA) to process the community’s commercial food waste via anaerobic digestion at CMSA’s biodigesters as part of their waste treatment process. This led to the creation of the Food 2 Energy (F2E) program, diverting and processing commercial food waste from over 200 grocery stores and restaurants in the area.
Environmental Education - Patty worked closely with her father, Joseph Garbarino Jr., in establishing the company’s Environmental Classroom and its ongoing outreach to environmental organizations and public and private schools in Marin County. The classroom is used, free of charge, by community, leadership, and environmental groups as a meeting space to teach courses on environmental stewardship, leadership skills, and resource conservation.
Statewide Policy Development and Related Legislation - Patty has been instrumental in the passage of legislation in California to advance recycling and other sustainable practices at the state level, including AB 939 - which mandates 50% diversion from landfills, SB 54 - which shifts the burden of plastic waste reduction from consumers to producers, and AB 1333 - a legislative effort, alongside the Teamsters Union, that protected renewable contracts and local government control.
Partnerships - With the help of Patty’s leadership, Northern Recycling LLC was founded in Yolo County by four families, including Marin Sanitary Service. The facility recycles green material, food waste, wood waste, and agricultural waste to create compost, mulch, and biomass fuel, as well as construction and demolition processing.
Community Service - Patty has served as president of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce and chaired the Marin County Planning Commission. She currently serves on the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Board, the SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) Board, and the Marin County Office of Education Board. Patty is well known and highly regarded in Marin by the business community, elected officials and county residents.
Accomplishments - Patty has spoken at several national conferences regarding waste and recycling issues and has been a member of Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin’s California Waste Reduction, Refuse and Recycling Advisory Committee. She was inducted into the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame in 1999 and has been Chair and Co-Chair to multiple successful school parcel tax and local bond measures and planning commissions.
Most notably, she has served as a Board Member to the California Product Stewardship Council (CSPC) and currently serves on a national level as Treasurer to the National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC), a 501(c)4 non-profit that advocates for the United States to attain an equitable, circular economy anywhere in the U.S., and at any level of government.
Under Patty’s management and leadership, Marin Sanitary Service’s companies have been lauded by the California Integrated Waste Management Board as having the highest recycling rate in California since 2002, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors rated Marin Sanitary Service Business of the Year in 2006.
In 2024, Patty was honored to receive the John P. Moscone Award for “long-term exemplary commitment and dedicated service to the waste industry” by the Resource Recovery Coalition of California at their annual convention. She is the first female to receive this award.
Contact: Justin Wilcock, justin.wilcock@marinsanitary.com (707) 303-0033.