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THE STORY OF

ZERO WASTE

HOW DOES A CITY OF OVER 850,000 RESIDENTS GET TO THE HOLY GRAIL OF ZERO

WASTE? WE LET THE DEPARTMENT IN CHARGE OF REACHING

THAT LOFTY GOAL TELL THE TALE OF HOW THE TARGET CAME TO BE

AND HOW ITS PLANNING ON GETTING THERE.

BY JULIE BRYANT, KEVIN DREW, ROBERT HALEY AND JACK MACY

The city o San Francisco is recognized as anenvironmental leader, in part because o its resourceconservation and solid waste reduction eorts. Te city

and county o San Francisco has adopted goals o 75 percentlandll diversion by 2010 and zero waste by 2020 and itachieved 77 percent diversion citywide in 2008. Te successcomes through a model o creating convenient programs,conducting extensive outreach, providing nancial incentivesand adopting cutting-edge policies such as mandatingparticipation and banning problem products.

Where zero waste came fromIn the late 1990s, the citys Department o the Environment(SF Environment) and Recology, San Franciscos sole permit-ted reuse hauler and processer, developed and started rollingout a three-stream collection system or all sectors. Te systemincludes blue commingled recycling bins or paper, bottles, cansand all rigid plastics; green composting bins, or ood scraps,soiled paper and plant trimmings; and a black landll binsor the remainder. Small generators use wheeled 32-, 64- or96-gallon lidded bins. Large generators use color-coded dump-

sters, roll-os and compactors. Residential, commercial and citygovernment customers are picked up by the same biodiesel truckon a route. Recyclables and landll reuse rom small genera-tors are collected with a dual-chamber compacting vehicle andcompostables with a separate side-loader, typically on the sameday. Collection occurs weekly or small generators and up to dailyor large ones.

SF Environment and Recology have long conducted multi-lingual, photo-rich outreach o all types, using the latest electronicmeans o distribution. San Francisco has had pay-as-you-throw

trash since the beginning o and service provider diversion incen-tives or the last decade. Recycling and composting are generallyree.

In April 2009, to urther expand programs and participa-tion, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom announced he would sponsor amandatory recycling and composting ordinance. SF Environmentdrated the ordinance with input rom Recology, the Chamber oCommerce, Building Owners and Managers Association, restau-rant and apartment associations, unions and other key stakehold-ers. Te ordinance was passed by the Board o Supervisors, andsigned by the mayor, in June, going into eect in October 2009.Te ordinance requires:

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All properties subscribe and pay oradequate reuse service.

Everyone to separate recyclables andcompostables (including ood scrapsand soiled paper) rom trash going tolandll.

Multi-tenant properties to provide ap-propriate size, color-coded and -labeledcontainers or all tenants and employeesand adequate education and training,including or janitors.

Food service establishments providingdisposable oodware to site bins withintheir entrance or the streams theydispense.

Events to recycle and compost. Collectors to tag bins or contamina-

tion with subsequent noticationletters.

Te media coverage rom the ordinancesannouncement up until it went into eectgave recycling, and especially composting,

huge boosts. SF Environment and Recol-ogy then conducted broad outreach on theordinance, including mailing letters andact sheets to residential and commercialaccounts, with continued targeted outreachand assistance or those not yet complying.Inorming people o the ordinance usuallygets swit cooperation, dramatically speed-ing up service placement and improvingparticipation. Persons not complying aresubject to citations, nes, property liens andnot having their reuse picked up.

Banning plastic checkout bags at super-

markets and chain drugstores, and expandedpolystyrene oodware, in avor o recyclableor compostable ones improved collectionprograms and integrated well with manda-tory messages. Composting tonnage quicklyincreased rom about 400 to approximately600 tons per day, primarily due to thechange to mandatory participation.

City governmentTe city government sector leads by exam-

ple, diverting over 85 percent o its discards.We purchase 100-percent-postconsumerrecycled paper and have accomplishedsubstantial source reduction by promotingelectronic communication and deaultingprinters to double-sided. Surplus govern-ment equipment is re-used via a virtual

warehouse managed by SF Environment.Nearly every city department acility recyclesand composts.

San Francisco has 26,000 municipal

employees, over 1,000 city acilities andparks, and other public spaces, account-ing or almost 15 percent o citywide solid

waste generation. Tere is a wide variety ooperations providing critical services withmany iconic locations such as City Hall,Golden Gate Park, the Perorming ArtsCenter, Candlestick Park, General Hospital,museums, libraries, as well as re and policestations.

San Francisco city leadership has long

shown a commitment to waste reduction.In 1999, the Board o Supervisors andmayor adopted the Resource Conserva-tion Ordinance, requiring city departmentsto maximize reuse, recycling and recycledcontent. Since then, elected ofcials andemployees have continued to raise the bar.City department success can be attributed tostrategies that include:

Department heads appointing and sup-porting zero waste coordinators at eachdepartmental location.

SF Environment working with zerowaste coordinators to assess opportuni-ties or increased recycling and com-posting by conducting waste audits,designing systems and identiyingappropriate locations or bins.

SF Environment providing ree color-coded bins, stickers, signs and technicalsupport.

SF Environment developing compre-hensive educational programs and di-rectly training over 10,000 employees,including custodians, property manag-

ers, purchasers and administrative staon the whys and hows o waste preven-tion, recycling and composting.

Zero waste coordinators being held ac-countable or waste reduction programsand required to report annually ontheir progress.

Mayoral executive orders, Board oSupervisors resolutions and departmen-tal bulletins leading the way on manyinitiatives such as requiring city oodscraps composting, employee training

and proper participation, environmen-tally preerred purchasing and banningbottled water.

With a combination o top level, operation-al, educational and other support, the Cityand County o San Francisco has shown theprivate sector and other government agen-cies that widespread participation in wasteprevention, recycling, composting and greenpurchasing is possible.

ResidentialSan Francisco has a population o about850,000 people in 350,000 households.Roughly 200,000 households are in singleamily to ve-unit buildings primarilyserved by curbside collection, and 150,000are in apartment buildings with six or morunits, usually having centralized serviceinside the structures. Our residential sectoaccounts or about 22 percent o citywidegeneration, and diverted about 60 percent

o its waste stream while landlling around150,000 tons last year.

Curbside households and apartmentshave long been recycling. At the turn o thmillennium, they were given new bins orcommingled recycling, and curbside households also received composting collectionbins. Apartments initially received com-posting bins upon approval by the owner omanager.

By 2005, about 500 (out o 8,500)apartment buildings had composting bins

and over 95 percent had recycling bins. Inpreparation or mandatory compliance,and assisted by the press ater announcingit, SF Environment and Recology installedcomposting collection at a total o 2,000apartment buildings by the ordinances passage. Te ordinance going into eect andbeing implemented has now resulted in ov6,200 or about 75 percent o apartmenhaving composting and nearly all havingrecycling service. At this pace, we will brincomposting to the remaining apartmentbuildings within two years.

Tis took intensive work with apart-ment associations, property managementcompanies and individual landlords.Buildings were given kitchen pails andcompostable bags or ood scraps andsoiled paper, larger collection bins, signageprogram inormation and direct educationand assistance. Because residential buildinonly pay or trash volume and requency,increasing recycling and adding compostincan decrease reuse bills signicantly. Mandatory recycling and composting actually

orces generators to savemoney.In-person outreach is very helpul ingaining proper participation in ood scrapscomposting. Our Environment Nowprogram employs people rom the com-munity to tag contaminated curbside bins(especially trash bins containing recyclableor compostables) and talk directly withresidents and businesses about how theprogram works and where items go.

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CommercialSan Franciscos population sometimesincreases 50 percent due to commuters andvisitors. And this is very easily illustrated bythe act that the commercial sector generatesnearly two-thirds o total discards. Over65,000 businesses are registered, whichrange rom single-person enterprises toheadquarters oFortune500 companies.Recology serves about 15,000 commercialaccounts, many o which have multiple ten-

ants such as ofce skyscrapers and shoppingcenters.

San Francisco had multi-stream high-rise and small business recycling programsin the 1980s. Food composting collectionstarted with produce wholesalers in 1996.Food retailers and restaurants were soonadded, as animal eed programs movedarther rom the city. SF Environment andRecology started rolling out the three-streamprogram to other businesses around 2000.Te program was oered to all businesses

and now has ofce buildings compostingood scraps and bathroom paper towels.Commercial rates charged by Recol-

ogy provide a strong nancial incentiveor customers to participate in recyclingand composting and reduce their remain-ing trash service. Since 2006, commercialrates provide a diversion discount equal torecycling and composting volume dividedby total volume generated. For example, ia business has one blue, green and black bino equal size and requency, it would receivea 67-percent diversion discount on its reuse

bill. Tis incentive can result in small busi-nesses saving hundreds, and large businessesthousands, o dollars a month.

SF Environment and Recology sta tar-get large businesses, ood establishments andmulti-tenant properties lacking composting

or recycling, contact them and provide on-site implementation assistance. SF Envi-ronment, Environment Now and Recologysta also check trash bins or recyclableand compostables and assist smaller busi-nesses. Environmental Science Associates,a city consultant rm assists with on-siteassessments, logistical set-ups, multilingualtraining and trouble shooting. A commer-cial compliance tool kit, including separa-tion requirements, template tenant memos,

training, videos, custom signage and otherassistance was developed and is oered tomany buildings.

Commercial accounts recycling in-creased rom 11,000 to about 13,000 orover 85 percent o all accounts. Com-mercial accounts composting more thandoubled rom 3,500 to over 7,200, whichrepresents about 95 percent o the 4,500ood establishments, 90 percent o ofcebuildings and nearly hal o all commercialaccounts. Some businesses are already very

close to zero waste.San Francisco also adopted a con-

struction and demolition debris recoveryordinance in 2006. Since then, SF Environ-ment has registered nearly 400 companies totransport mixed construction and demoli-tion debris to a dozen registered recoveryacilities. Tis ordinance paved the way ormandatory and has diverted tens o thou-sands o tons on its own.

Heading toward

zero wasteSan Francisco disposal tonnage or 2010 was15 percent less than 2009 and, again, ourlowest on record. Disposal is approximatelyhal o what it was in 2000. Tese reduc-tions go well beyond any accounted or by

economic indicators and demonstrate theeectiveness o our policies and programs.

Getting to zero waste requires producerand consumer responsibility. Mandatingrecycling and composting can be the mosteective consumer responsibility tool. Ieveryone recycled and composted everythingthey can in our existing programs, San Fran-cisco could reach 90 percent diversion.

Multi-tenant buildings, tight space,trash chutes, public places, high turnover

and multiple languages all challenge sourceseparation. Products not designed to berecyclable or compostable make it difcultto eliminate trash bins and go to a two-stream system at many locations. So SFEnvironment and Recology are researchingand developing low temperature, mechani-cal/biological separation and enhancedprocessing such as anaerobic digestion. Weplan to construct a new integrated zero

waste acility beore the 2020 deadline. Wealso plan to ocus on local and state

initiatives to change the products compris-ing the remaining 10 percent o generationto really achieve zero waste.

All o the authors are with SF Environment.City Government Zero Waste Coordinator

Julie Bryant can be contacted at julie.bry-ant@sgov.org. Residential Zero Waste Co-ordinator Kevin Drew can be contacted atkevin.drew@sgov.org. Zero Waste ManagerRobert Haley can be contacted at robert.haley@sgov.org. Commercial Zero WasteCoordinator Jack Macy can be contacted at

jack.macy@sgov.org.

Reprinted with permission from ResourceRecycling, P.O. Box 42270, Portland, OR97242-0270; (503) 233-1305, (503) 233-1356 (fax); www.resource-recycling.com.