El Cerrito Recycling Center

The El Cerrito Recycling Center is a unique community resource that provides El Cerrito residents and businesses a place to recycle a wide range of conventional and hard-to-recycle items and obtain information about other environmental concerns and efforts. The Center serves as an example of green building. It has received LEED Platinum Certification from the USGBC. Sherwood Design Engineer’s role in the project was overseeing site civil engineering and water management. At the foot of an abandoned hillside rock quarry that was later turned into a local dump, the site design focused on grading and stormwater management with a number of unique constraints. Slope stability, earthwork balancing, protection of existing plant resources, and working to mimic existing drainage patterns were challenges that the design tackled. Open to the public in 2012, the Center boasts an 11,000 gallon cistern and decentralized stormwater raingardens, and a 2,200 sq ft net zero energy administration building.