San Francisco’s Zero Waste

Policies and Programs

Jack Macy
Department of the Environment
City and County of San Francisco

GVRD Zero Waste Challenge Workshop

Vancouver, BC
May 30, 2007
 San Francisco Background
• Population: 750,000 residents & 1.25 million daytime in 49 sq. mi.
• Multilingual: 40% don’t speak English at home
• 330,000 households: 150K in1-5 units, 180K in 6+ unit buildings
• 60,000 businesses and institutions, with 7000 food establishments,
generate 2/3 of all waste
• 2 exclusively permitted haulers, Norcal Waste Systems Co.’s,
collect all trash & compostables, and most of the recyclables
• Variable rates charged for garbage collection via City rate approval
process
• 1.98 million tons per year total waste generation, construction &
demolition debris and wastewater sludge.
• 660,000 tons put in landfill and 1.37 million tons diverted in 2005
• Regional landfill 55 mile haul from San Francisco transfer station
• Total waste diversion is 69%, as reported to the state for 2005
 San Francisco’s Waste Diversion
Goals & Zero Waste Policy
• 50% Diversion by 2000 State Mandate

• 75% Landfill Diversion by 2010 Goal

• Zero Waste to landfill or incineration by 2020 Goal

• Highest and Best Use of Materials

• Consumer and Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• Urging Others to Adopt Similar Policies

 Tip of the Wasteberg Impact
Municipal
Waste
tip of the
“wasteberg” Upstream waste
produced is 70
times greater
than at
municipal level
Upstream Waste
 Climate Change and Waste Diversion

Climate change gas emission increases can be linked

directly to the increase in solid waste

Waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting:

• Increases storage of carbon in soil & biomass
• Reduces emissions from energy consumption
• Reduces methane emissions from landfills
 Reduce
Paper is the easiest material to reduce in office settings
¾ Double-sided copies
¾ Double-sided printing
¾ Bypass tray (manual feed tray) with
one-sided paper
¾ Do you really need to print that email?

Use durable instead of disposable material

¾ Tupperware for take out lunch

¾ Bring your own mug

 Reuse
¾ Reuse old office supplies before
ordering anything new

¾ Use durable plates mugs and utensils

¾ One-sided paper
Example Strategies of Food Diversion
• Edible Food Donation
¾ Delivered to meal programs, via Food Bank or Food Runners
• Animal Feed
¾ Picked-up by farmers or via processor for feed production
• Rendering
¾ Grease & meat products processed into tallow & animal feed
• On-site Composting
¾ By residents, schools, colleges or universities
• Large Scale Composting
¾ Curbside collection to large scale processing into compost
• Digestion into Gas or Converting to BioDiesel
¾ Collection and centralized digestion into biogas energy
¾ FOG (fats, oil & grease) processed into Biodiesel
 San Francisco Food Bank
Edible Food Redistribution
Produce, Brewery & Tofu
Residuals For Dairy Feed
FOG (Fat, Oil & Grease), Meat & Bones
Rendered Into Animal Meal & Tallow
Home Composting
Education & Bins
 Composting & Recycling Collection
Designed For Easy High Diversion
Food Scraps
Recycled Paper 20%
21%

Glass and Plastic Bottles Plant Trimmings

Aluminum and Steel Cans 5%
4%

Compostable Paper
& Fiber 10%
Construction and
Demolition Waste
25%

Other
15%

All % numbers by
weight or tons
 “Fantastic 3” Collection Program
for Residents Diverting Up to 50%+
Easy to Understand Photo Image Outreach
Recyclables & Trash Collected from
Small Business a Dual Compactors
Fully Commingled Recycling Collection
in Offices With Desk-side Dual Bins
 Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Sorts
Mixed Recyclables For Shipping to Markets
Tipping Single Stream Material
 2 Single Stream Lines + 3 Mixed
Commercial Lines for over 1200 tpd
Initial Hand Sorting of Larger Material
Star Screens Separate Fiber and
Containers
Sorting Small Fiber From Container Unders
Plastic & Glass Hand Sorted, Ferrous & Aluminum
Pulled by Magnets & Eddy Currents
Paper/Metals to Asian Markets, Glass
& Plastic to Regional
 Compostables Collected Using
Dedicated Single Chamber Compactors
Commercial Recycling & Composting
Collection Up to Daily
Multi-lingual
And Photo
Image Poster
Used for
Training and
Bin Signage
Management Support, Incentives, &
Multilingual Staff Training Critical
SF Generator Financial Incentive
Commercial Rate Structure - Up to 75%
discount on the variable rates for composting,
recycling and trash service based on the total
diversion volume as collected by the Norcal
companies. Saving money is a big incentive.
Green Bin Set-up For Work Station Sorting
Toters, Slim Jims or Shoots to Separate
Bottles & Cans from Compostables
Combining, Lining, Tipping & Cleaning
Sorting Containers
Working Creativity with Space Constraints
Options for Cleaning Containers
Compostable Bags & Food Service Ware
to Reduce Cleaning and Contamination
Using Bag Liners Can Help Participation –
Transparent and Compostable –
Cost, Performance & Processing Issues
Over 50 Schools Have Food
Composting Programs.
Monitoring Contamination, Give Feedback
And Assistance To Ensure Quality Control
Separating office building food and wet
compostables allows easier sorting of
paper and other recyclables
Building Cafeteria Composting
Office Buildings Diverting up to 75%
Restaurants Divert up to 90%+
Recycling and Composting
Anchor Brewing Co. Diverts 99%+
Norcal’s Jepsen Prairie Organics Regional
Composting Facility
Receiving & Sorting Out Contaminants from
Food Rich Compostables
Grinding Feedstock for Composting
Feedstock Ram-fed Into 200 Foot
Long HDPE Ag-Bags
 Bags Aerated For 30 Days With
Timed Blowers And Perforated Pipes
High Temperatures Meet Pathogen
Kill (PFRP) Requirements
Bags Opened and Material Turned In
Open Windrows For 30 Days
Compost Screened To 3/8 or ¼ Inch
Custom Blending For Specific Markets
and Organic Certified
Compost Used For Landscaping &
Golf Courses
Compost Used On Organic Farms And
Vineyards To Build Healthy Soils
 Closing The Loop - Food Composting
Sustains Healthy Soils To Grow Organic
Food That Returns To Feed The City
 SF Food Composting Results
• 150,000 households and 2000 businesses served and growing
• Large venue composting - Hotel Conventions, Moscone Center,
SBC Park, School District, and numerous Special Events
• High satisfaction among participants, employee moral and
business recognition
• Many business benefit with significant savings, increased
incentives with new rate structure
• Diversion up to over 50% for residential and up to over 90% for
commercial participants
• Diversion of over 340 tons per day of organics reducing
significant landfill impacts, including ghg emissions
• Closing the loop with nutrients returned to soils and sustaining
local healthy food production & landscapes
• A key foundation for getting to Zero Waste
 Challenges For Future Organics
Diversion Expansion
• Contamination – food service ware and
plastic bags
• Capacity – facilities have no or limited
additional processing capacity
• VOC emissions – air board restrictions on
expanding or new facilities
• Markets – customize and diversify products
• Climate change and peak oil - reduce carbon
and energy footprint
SF Food Service Waste Reduction
Ordinance
• New Law requires all SF restaurants and food
vendors that serve food prepared in SF to
use of only durably reusable, recyclable or
compostable food service ware.

• Outright ban on polystyrene foam (Styrofoam)

disposable food service ware. Otherwise,
exemption on compostable or recyclable if
more than 15% more expensive than non-
compostable or non-recyclable alternatives.
Public Special Events Using Compostable
Food Service Ware Divert Up to 90%.
Need for Labeling Compostable PLA
& Other BioPlastics Made from
Corn or other Plant Starches
 SF Plastic Bag Reduction
Ordinance
• Large grocery and pharmacy chain stores
can only provide certified compostable
bags, recyclable paper or durably resuable
bags.
• Cover estimated 150,000,000 plastic bags
currently distributed in SF.
Organics Digestion-to-Biogas
Mandatory Construction & Demolition
(C&D) Recycling
Metal, Sheetrock, Wood, Concrete &
Inert Fines Recovered From C&D
 Deconstruction Can Maximize
Recovery And Value Of Materials
Bulky, Electronic and Toxic Waste
Collection Programs
 Lessons in Increasing Waste Diversion

• Create Public/private partnership with shared goals.

• Give Financial incentives for service providers to

increase and meet diversion goals. For example offer
a higher rate of profit to reach target goals.

• Give Financial incentives for waste generators

(residents and businesses) to participate in separating
materials for composting and recycling. An incentive
example is a discounted rate for participating.

• Collect all types of food and other compostables

separately from all other recyclables and from
remaining trash for landfill.
 Lessons in Moving Toward Zero Waste
• Create a simple and convenient system, with color-coded
sorting/collection containers and signage with pictures of
material.

• Provide different size containers and up to daily service for

businesses, especially for composting collection.

• Make composting and recycling participation as or more

convenient than putting trash out for the landfill.

• Provide multi-media educational campaign to residents and

businesses with clear messages and graphic pictures of
materials for source separation.

• Reduce fossil fuel use and air emissions with alternative

renewable fuels for collection vehicles.
Lessons in Moving Toward Zero Waste
• Gain management support at all levels of the business or
institution to make participation a part of job routine and
responsibility.

• Give on-site assistance, multi-lingual training and address

needs and concerns. Monitor participation and
contamination and give immediate feedback and
assistance.

• Test and demonstration programs starting with easier

recovery, then revise and expand, but avoid start and stop
pilot programs.

• Promote food service ware that is durably reusable,

recyclable or compostable to reduce contamination and
increase participation and diversion in food composting.

• Provide recognition for excellent participation and results,

for example an award program with cash prices.
 Strategies to Implement Zero Waste
• Expand source reduction, reuse, recycling and composting and
other programs and participation

• Increase service provider and generator incentives

• Improve material processing technologies (e.g., digestion) to

reduce environmental impacts and diversify markets

• Conducting extensive ongoing outreach and education

• Require producer and consumer responsibility through policies and

legislation

• Require products be reusable, recyclable or compostable

• Push to eliminate tax and other subsidies that give preference to

virgin materials and landfilling waste
 Extended Producer Responsibility
– San Francisco Policy Resolution
• “By covering the costs of collection, local governments are
subsidizing the production of waste because manufacturers know
that whatever they produce the local government will foot the bill
for recycling or disposal.”

• State should pursue legislation to give incentives for the redesign

of products to make them less toxic, and shift the cost for
recycling and disposal of products from local government to the
producer and distributor of the product.

• City to pursue local policies, such as leasing vs. purchasing,

requiring less toxic products and for manufacturers “to take
responsibility for collecting and recycling their products at the end
of their useful life.”
 Thank You!

Jack Macy
San Francisco
Department of the Environment
jack.macy@sfgov.org