Jun 11 - San Francisco Moves Closer to Adopting Mandatory Recycling

In a bold move on Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to adopt an ordinance requiring recycling and composting for all residents and businesses. The ordinance passed with a 9 to 2 vote, and will have to come back to the Board of Supervisors for one more vote before going into effect this Fall.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the City will focus on using carrots, not negative consequences:

Proponents say it is important to get people's attention about the importance of keeping compostable material out of landfills.

Food scraps sent to a landfill decompose fast and turn into methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas, Reed said. On the other hand, collected scraps are turned into compost that helps area farms and vineyards flourish.

Ballard predicts that recycling food scraps eventually will seem as ho-hum as saving aluminum cans and newspapers.