Recycling and composting expected to be mandatory by year's end

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing a law that would make Recycling and Composting mandatory within the city. San Francisco already has the highest diversion rate in the country at 70% and city officials say that this law would be neccessary in order for it to reach their goal of 75%. Jacoba Charles of Plenty Magazine reports:

“We’ve already reached the people who know it’s the right thing to do,” says Thea Hillman with the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “Now we’re at the folks who need not so much the carrot but more of the stick.”

Although mandatory recycling ordinances are already in place in some U.S. cities, San Francisco would be the first to mandate composting.

A major area this law would address is the lower diversion rate for multi-family units. Apartment owners don't always supply recycling & composting bins for their tenants. The enactment of the ordinance would require landlords to provide these bins. This would have a significant impact on the rate since a majority of San Francisco residents are renters.

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The Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee held its final meeting on Monday and adopted progressive recommendations for achieving AB 32 goals through increased recycling and composting.

While the final report has not been released, we expect the recycling and composting sections to be substantively the same as those in the latest draft.

Areas to note:

• Pages 103 to 108 (of the PDF) list the recycling and composting recommendations.
• The introduction/summary lists 5 key opportunities for GHG reductions. Opportunity #4 has to do with emission reductions through forestry and ag, and includes a recommendation on compost use. (Page 20 of the PDF)

The final report will be released within the next few days (we will post it when it will be available), and the ARB Board will adopt it on the 28th. It will then be given to ARB staff for consideration in the AB 32 Scoping Plan.