Bay View Refuse & Recycling Service

The customer service is amazing. There have been a couple issues we’ve had to resolve over the years… a Christmas tree pickup reschedule, a mixup about what holidays they aren’t doing pickup (Xmas and New Years Day is the answer to that one FYI). Every time I’ve had to interact with Bay View Refuse the phone responsiveness and helpfulness has been great. Several times I’ve walked the line, having cans that were kind of overfull or really stuffed. A couple times I even put an extra bag of garbage *next* to the cans. When we lived in Oakland we would get tickets or warnings frequently for overstuffing our garbage, but not with Bay View Refuse. I’m not saying you should break the rules and do this, I’m just saying they will work with you during life’s unpredictable conditions.

I was about to leave a really bad review since they haven’t been picking up my garbage and I had no idea why. So I called them — the lady was really helpful; she explained how my account is for a 30-​gallon trash and I’ve been putting out a 45-​gallon trash. (She also said they usually call you after the first time, and nobody ever called me, so one star off for that.) She offered to have a garbage truck come around this week and pick it up this week, and then hereafter I will only do 30-​gallon cans. That’s the right way to handle it; that’s good customer service. Good to see!
As far as the dump goes, I was not impressed by the $ 50 minimum fee.

This place is a DUMP, but it still gets 4 stars from me.
After recycling all we could at the El Cerrito Recycling Center, we decided to take the rest to the dump. We didn’t have that much, but did’t want to wait to put in the trash. Our garage was now clean!
I’ve never been to an actual dump like this, so the experience was pretty interesting. You pull up to an attendant, he estimates the load and weighs the total vehicle. Pay your fee and head up the road. Unload and you are off on your way. Easier than I imagined.
Downsides are the smell as you get closer to the dump area and the seagulls, but what do expect for a total DUMP? Lol.

Twice I’ve had to call about green waste pickup that failed to happen on the appointed day.

The good: the same drivers run the same regular routes, they are friendly and professional, and they go the extra mile to accommodate the need. They’ll even run the crusher an extra time or two for an interested toddler.
The bad: they take just about anything in the «recycling» bin, deluding customers into thinking it is of value. But as a tour of their transfer center highlights, 30% of it gets tossed (e.g. yogurt containers, paper milk cartons, etc. For some details on this type of issue see
).
They have no website (!).

These guys provide the trash and recycling service in our community. They pick up trash and recycling in one fell swoop (using a truck with partitioned compartments), coming every week. They also do a green waste pickup twice per month. Notably, the green waste pickup is unlimited — they’ll take whatever you leave for them. Also, they actually go into people’s back yards for trash so that customers don’t have to lug their garbage to the curb. (I’ve never used this particular service.) Also, they come ’round once every fall for a «cleanup» — you can give them most anything that you want to get rid of, as long as it’s not toxic. As far as toxic materials go, Bay View will send you a coupon that gives you the right to dispose of your toxic wastes at a special Richmond dump without charge. I believe that you can only get one of these each year.
The Bay View people are super-​friendly. I often come down to the curb to greet them as they stop off to pick up my trash. They pick up everybody’s garbage even when there’s a major holiday like Christmas or New Year’s Day. If Christmas (say) falls on a weekday, they will take that day off, but then they’ll work on Saturday to make sure that every residence gets its weekly visit. Pretty great!
As Patti Smith put it, «The transformation of waste is perhaps the oldest pre-​occupation of man». Or was that someone else? No, turns out that it really was Patti –
.