Sunol residents are organizing to try to stop plans for a 40-acre composting facility that would process 600 tons of ``green waste'' per day.

The Alameda County Waste Management Authority is considering spending $5.5 million to help Materials Recovery build a center off Interstate 680 on Andrade Road, two miles southwest of Sunol. The facility would recycle some of the 2,600 tons of food and organics thrown away daily in the county.

A draft environmental review addressing land use, traffic, odor and other factors was completed late last year and is being circulated until next Monday.

Currently, 27 percent of waste dumped in Alameda County is considered food or green waste. The county's goal is to divert 75 percent of total waste from landfills by 2010.

Sunol residents are concerned about odor, pollutants and the possibility of attracting scavenger animals.

Bill Schreeder is president of Materials Recovery and a consultant with Browning-Ferris Industries' Newby Island Sanitary Landfill in San Jose, which contains a composting center.

He said the San Jose facility handles about 400 tons of waste that can be composted daily, is very responsive to complaints and has a set of ``best management practices,'' including not turning over a compost heap unless the wind is blowing toward the bay.

Composting facility opponent Hazel Turner and her husband, Paul, have lived on Sheridan Road, near the proposed site, for more than 20 years. She worries her home will be filled with its odor.

"Sunol is practically on top of'' the compost facility,'' she said. ``I would be crazy not to get involved.''