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Zero Waste

Achievements

San Francisco has some of the best waste reduction programs and policies in the country, and we couldn't have done it without the cooperation and support of city agencies, the Norcal Waste System companies, other service providers, businesses and residents. Here's what the city has done so far on its way to zero waste:

  • Adopted goals of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 and zero waste by 2020;

  • Diverted 72% percent (over 1,367,000 tons annually) from landfill;

  • Reduced landfill disposal to its lowest level in 29 years;

  • Established the first and largest urban food scraps composting collection in the U.S. The program, available to all 335,000 households and serving over 2,000 businesses citywide, collects almost 300 tons per day. Most of the resulting certified organic compost is used locally to grow food and produce wine;

  • Pioneered commingled recycling collection (paper, bottles, and cans together) among private homes, apartments, businesses, and city government locations on the same route;

  • Constructed state-of-the-art facilities for the efficient processing and transferring of recyclable materials, construction and demoliton debris, and compostable organics;

  • Passed policies like the Resource Conservation Ordinance directing all city departments to maximize waste reduction and purchase recycled products, and an Extended Producer Responsibility Resolution urging the passage of state legislation that would hold producers more responsible for the waste they create.

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Legislation & Initiatives

SF Environment, the Commission on the Environment, the Board of Supervisors, and the mayor have all helped create ordinances and resolutions to address the problem of solid waste, including setting the goals of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 and zero waste by 2020, various policy initiatives to ensure that government leads by example, and efforts to encourage the private sector to move toward zero waste.

Citywide

Resolution Urging Zero Waste Goal – Passed by the Commission on the Environment urging the mayor and Board of Supervisors to adopt goals of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 and zero waste by 2020.

Resolution Adopting Zero Waste Goal – Adopted goals of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 and zero waste.

Resolution Setting Zero Waste Date – Set the date of 2020 for zero waste goal.

Mandatory Recycling & Composting Ordinance - Passed by the Board of Supervisors in June of 2009, this ordinance requires all of San Francisco to separate recyclables, compostables and landfilled trash.

City Government

City 75% Goal Resolution – Set the goal of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010 for all city departments.

Resource Conservation Ordinance– Requires city departments to reduce waste, maximize recycling, and buy products with recycled content.

Mayor's Executive Order on Recycling and Resource Conservation - Summarizes existing zero waste legislation as well as expands on the role of the City's Recycling Coordinators and requires defaults on multi function devices to be set to double-sided printing.

Mayor's Executive Order Enhancing Recycling and Resource Conservation - Requires Departments to purchase 100 percent post-consumer recycled content paper, to reduce paper usage, and to purchase only approved green products.

City Composting Resolution – Urges all city facilities to compost and recycle, and use compostable or recyclable food-service ware. Click here for more information.

Mayor's Executive Order on Bottled Water - Prohibits San Francisco city departments from using public funds to purchase bottled water.

Plastic Beverage Bottle Resolution – Directs city departments to provide recycling receptacles for beverage containers.

Precautionary Purchasing Ordinance– Requires city departments to purchase products that maximize postconsumer recycled content and recyclable or compostable materials, and that favor durability, repairability, and reuse.

Precautionary Purchasing Regulation – Sets recycled content and other guidelines for commodities regularly purchased by city departments.

Surplus Disposal Ordinance – Establishes a reuse and recycling hierarchy for redistributing excess city equipment and supplies.

Green Building Ordinance – Requires city construction to manage debris and provide adequate recycling storage space in buildings.

Construction and Demolition (C&D)

City Construction Recycled Content Ordinance– Requires recycled content materials to be used in public works and improvement projects.

C&D Debris Recovery Ordinance – Requires C&D projects to use city-registered transporters and processing facilities to increase debris recovery.

C&D Ordinance Summary – A synopsis of the C&D Debris Recovery Ordinance.

C&D Regulation – The regulation adopting the C&D Ordinance.

Registered Facility Application – The form required by the city to register or renew a registered C&D facility.

Registered Transporter Application – The form required by the city to register or renew a transporter of C&D debris.

Demolition Debris Recovery Plan – The form required by the city for full demolitions.

Demolition Notice Ordinance – Provides notice of demolition to recycling companies.

Disaster Debris Recycling Resolution - Policy for City Departments to maximize reuse and recycling of debris in the event of a disaster.

Adequate Space for Trash, Recycling and Compostable Materials (AB-088) - Provides standards for adequate space requirements and chute design for recycling,
composting and waste handling systems.

Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility Resolution, 2006 Supports statewide efforts to hold producers responsible for product waste and agencies to include producer responsibility language in city purchasing contracts.

Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Resolution, 2010 – Urges State to enact an extended producer responsibility
framework.

Checkout Bag Fee Resolution – Urges the mayor and Board of Supervisors to adopt an ordinance requiring a fee on supermarket checkout bags.

Supermarket Bag Reduction Agreement – An agreement between supermarkets and the city to reduce the distribution of checkout bags by 10 million in one year.

Bag Recycling Resolution – Supports mandating the recycling of plastic bags at grocery stores and opposes any state preemption of local fees and other requirements to promote waste reduction.

Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance – Requires the use of compostable plastic, recyclable paper and/or reusable checkout bags by supermarkets and drugstores.

Food Service Waste Reduction Ordinance – Requires restaurants and food vendors to not use styrofoam food service ware and instead use food ware that is compostable or recyclable. Click here for more information.

Computer and Electronics Recycling Resolution – Advocates state legislation requiring computer and electronic manufacturers to take responsibility for reuse and recycling of their products.

Catalog Resource Conservation – Urges the catalog industry to reduce paper use and increase postconsumer recycled content.

Coca-Cola Recycled Plastics Resolution – Urged Coca-Cola to use recycled plastic in their bottles and reintroduce refillable bottles in the U.S. A similar resolution was later passed for Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes.

Plastic Beverage Bottle Resolution – Urged the mayor and Board of Supervisors to direct city departments to purchase only plastic beverage bottles with recycled content.

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Grants

SF Environment provides up to $600,000 annually in zero waste grants to nonprofit organizations to support the innovative reuse, recycling, composting, market development, and education that will cost-effectively increase waste diversion in San Francisco. One of the priority areas for funding is recovering the more than 36 percent of the waste "








2006 Zero Waste Grant Awards

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Reports

The San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association, SPUR, published a policy paper in February 2010 titled "Toward zero waste: A look at San Francisco's model recycling policies".

SF Environment conducted a study of the types of materials that are being disposed in landfills by San Francisco residents and businesses, called the Waste Characterization Study.

In an effort to improve the environment for residents in San Francisco, SF Environment conducted a Street Litter Study to indentify the types of materials found on city streets.

SF Environment and the Department of Public Works are planning Disposal Alternatives for when our current Altamont landfill agreement expires.

Click here for the Norcal Disposal Alternatives Presentation, May 2007.

Click here for the Presidio School of Management Report December 2007.

Click here for the Container Recycling Institute report and scorecard on beverage container recycling

Click here for the Tobacco Litter Study, which was used to develop the cigarette litter fee. (pdf)

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Partnerships

SF Environment's Zero Waste team works with a wide range of partners to develop efficient programs and policies and to promote waste reduction and reuse, recycling, and composting. Some of our key partners are:

Norcal Waste Systems operates three businesses in the city: Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling picks up refuse in downtown San Francisco; Sunset Scavenger in the outlying neighborhoods; and SF Recycling & Disposal operates the recycling processing facilities and transfer station.

The Department of Public Works offers services such as litter abatement and manages the process that sets residential refuse rates.

The Department of Public Health issues refuse permits and licenses, assists with customer service complaints, and has the power to put liens on customers who don't pay their garbage bills, among other functions.

Hundreds of other for-profit and nonprofit organizations offer waste reduction & reuse, recycling, and composting services to the city, ranging from food redistribution to concrete recycling. Click on the ecofindeRRR or Zero Waste grants to find out about some of them.

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Public Awareness

Here are links to some of our recent Zero Waste creatives. If you need hard copies or need a different file format please contact Deanna Simon, (415) 355-3707

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GRRN (Grassroots Recycling Network) is a resource for additional zero waste information.

The Bay Area Junk Mail Reduction Campaign and the Bring Your Own Bag Campaign are collaborative projects of Bay Area cities and counties that encourage the public to take action to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive and to bring reusable bags whenever they shop.

The Integrated Waste Management Board is the state agency that oversees the California Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939) and other solid waste activities.

California's Division of Recycling oversees beverage container recycling according to regulations set down by the California Bottle Bill (AB 2020).

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