Apr 21 - San Francisco Gives Compost Back to Residents

Because of San Francisco’s extensive composting program, on April 16 the city gave away up five gallons of compost to any willing participants free of charge. In an article, the San Francisco Sentinel stated that the city distributed roughly 18 truckloads of compost material to 4,000 residents.

However, the benefits of composting stretch far beyond resident’s ability to receive free gardening material. Through such programs as this, the city has reached a landfill diversion rate of 77% and produces up to 95,000 cubic yards of compost a year.

Currently, the state of California has an organic waste diversion goal of 50% by 2020. Although such cities as San Francisco appear to be on the right track to make this goal a reality, many cities lack the infrastructure to reach similar feats. This is why CAW supports AB 34 (Williams), a bill which targets the most prevalent items in our waste stream by encouraging the development of compost facilities to recycle organic materials.

Calrecycle estimates that about a third of the waste sent to landfills is compostable organic material. In order for the state to meet our 50% diversion goal, it is critical that cities have the proper infrastructure to meet this capacity. To learn more about AB 34 and track its progress, click here.