San Francisco's Zero Waste Policies and Programs

8/9/2019 San Francisco's Zero Waste Policies and Programs

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Jack Macy

Department of the Environment

City and County of San Francisco

GVRD Zero Waste Challenge Workshop

Vancouver, BC

May 30, 2007

San Franciscos Zero WastePolicies and Programs


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San Francisco Background Population: 750,000 residents & 1.25 million daytime in 49 sq. mi.

Multilingual: 40% dont 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


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San Franciscos 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


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Tip of the Wasteberg Impact

Municipal

Waste

tip of the

wasteberg Upstream wasteproduced is 70times greater

than atmunicipal level


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Upstream Waste


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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:

Reduces emissions from energy consumption

Reduces methane emissions from landfills

Increases storage of carbon in soil & biomass


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Reduce

Paper is the easiest material to reduce in office settings

Double-sided copies

Double-sided printing Bypass tray (manual feed tray) with

one-sided paper

Do you really need to print that email?

Use durable instead of disposable material

Tupperware for take out lunch

Bring your own mug


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Reuse Reuse old office supplies before

ordering anything new

One-sided paper

Use durable plates mugs and utensils


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Example Strategies of Food Diversion

Edible Food Donation

Delivered to meal programs, via Food Bank or Food Runners

Animal Feed

Picked-up by farmers or via processor for feed production

Rendering

Grease & meat products processed into tallow & animal feed

On-site Composting By residents, schools, colleges or universities

Large Scale Composting

Curbside collection to large scale processing into compost

Digestion into Gas or Converting to BioDiesel

Collection and centralized digestion into biogas energy

FOG (fats, oil & grease) processed into Biodiesel


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San Francisco Food Bank

Edible Food Redistribution


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Produce, Brewery & Tofu

Residuals For Dairy Feed


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FOG (Fat, Oil & Grease), Meat & Bones

Rendered Into Animal Meal & Tallow


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Home Composting

Education & Bins


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Composting & Recycling Collection

Designed For Easy High DiversionRecycled Paper

21%

Glass and Plastic BottlesAluminum and Steel Cans

4%

Construction andDemolition Waste

25%

Other15%

All % numbers byweight or tons

Food Scraps20%

Plant Trimmings5%

Compostable Paper& Fiber 10%


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Fantastic 3 Collection Programfor Residents Diverting Up to 50%+


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Easy to Understand Photo Image Outreach


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Recyclables & Trash Collected fromSmall Business a Dual Compactors


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Fully Commingled Recycling Collectionin Offices With Desk-side Dual Bins


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Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Sorts

Mixed Recyclables For Shipping to Markets


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Tipping Single Stream Material


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2 Single Stream Lines + 3 MixedCommercial Lines for over 1200 tpd


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Initial Hand Sorting of Larger Material


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Star Screens Separate Fiber and

Containers


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Sorting Small Fiber From Container Unders


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Plastic & Glass Hand Sorted, Ferrous & AluminumPulled by Magnets & Eddy Currents


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Paper/Metals to Asian Markets, Glass& Plastic to Regional


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Compostables Collected UsingDedicated Single Chamber Compactors


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Commercial Recycling & Composting

Collection Up to Daily


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Multi-lingual

And PhotoImage Poster

Used for

Training and

Bin Signage


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Management Support, Incentives, &

Multilingual Staff Training Critical


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SF Generator Financial IncentiveCommercial Rate Structure - Up to 75%discount on the variable rates for composting,

recycling and trash service based on the totaldiversion volume as collected by the Norcalcompanies. Saving money is a big incentive.


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Green Bin Set-up For Work Station Sorting


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Toters, Slim Jims or Shoots to SeparateBottles & Cans from Compostables


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Combining, Lining, Tipping & Cleaning

Sorting Containers


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Working Creativity with Space Constraints


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Options for Cleaning Containers


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Compostable Bags & Food Service Ware

to Reduce Cleaning and Contamination


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Using Bag Liners Can Help Participation

Transparent and Compostable Cost, Performance & Processing Issues


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Over 50 Schools Have FoodComposting Programs.


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Monitoring Contamination, Give Feedback

And Assistance To Ensure Quality Control


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Separating office building food and wet

compostables allows easier sorting of

paper and other recyclables


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Building Cafeteria Composting


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Office Buildings Diverting up to 75%


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Restaurants Divert up to 90%+Recycling and Composting


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Anchor Brewing Co. Diverts 99%+


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Norcals Jepsen Prairie Organics Regional

Composting Facility


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Receiving & Sorting Out Contaminants from

Food Rich Compostables


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Grinding Feedstock for Composting


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Feedstock Ram-fed Into 200 Foot

Long HDPE Ag-Bags


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Bags Aerated For 30 Days WithTimed Blowers And Perforated Pipes


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High Temperatures Meet PathogenKill (PFRP) Requirements


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Bags Opened and Material Turned In

Open Windrows For 30 Days


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Compost Screened To 3/8 or Inch


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Custom Blending For Specific Marketsand Organic Certified

Compost Used For Landscaping &


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Compost Used For Landscaping &

Golf Courses


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Compost Used On Organic Farms And

Vineyards To Build Healthy Soils

Closing The Loop - Food Composting


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Closing The Loop Food Composting

Sustains Healthy Soils To Grow OrganicFood That Returns To Feed The City

SF Food Composting Results


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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 andbusiness recognition

Many business benefit with significant savings, increasedincentives with new rate structure

Diversion up to over 50% for residential and up to over 90% forcommercial participants

Diversion of over 340 tons per day of organics reducingsignificant landfill impacts, including ghg emissions

Closing the loop with nutrients returned to soils and sustaininglocal healthy food production & landscapes

A key foundation for getting to Zero Waste

Ch ll F F t O i


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Challenges For Future Organics

Diversion Expansion

Contamination food service ware andplastic bags

Capacity facilities have no or limitedadditional processing capacity

VOC emissions air board restrictions onexpanding or new facilities

Markets customize and diversify products

Climate change and peak oil - reduce carbonand energy footprint


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SF Food Service Waste ReductionOrdinance

New Law requires all SF restaurants and foodvendors that serve food prepared in SF touse of only durably reusable, recyclable orcompostable food service ware.

Outright ban on polystyrene foam (Styrofoam)disposable food service ware. Otherwise,

exemption on compostable or recyclable ifmore than 15% more expensive than non-compostable or non-recyclable alternatives.

Public Special Events Using Compostable


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Food Service Ware Divert Up to 90%.

Need for Labeling Compostable PLA

& Oth Bi Pl ti M d f


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& Other BioPlastics Made from

Corn or other Plant Starches


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SF Plastic Bag ReductionOrdinance

Large grocery and pharmacy chain storescan only provide certified compostable

bags, recyclable paper or durably resuable

bags. Cover estimated 150,000,000 plastic bags

currently distributed in SF.

Organics DigestionOrganics Digestion--toto--BiogasBiogas


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Organics DigestionOrganics Digestion toto BiogasBiogas

Mandatory Construction & Demolition


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y

(C&D) Recycling

Metal, Sheetrock, Wood, Concrete &


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, , ,

Inert Fines Recovered From C&D


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Deconstruction Can MaximizeRecovery And Value Of Materials

Bulky, Electronic and Toxic Waste


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y,

Collection Programs

Lessons in Increasing Waste Diversion


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Lessons in Increasing Waste Diversion

Create Public/private partnership with shared goals.

Give Financial incentives for service providers toincrease and meet diversion goals. For example offera higher rate of profit to reach target goals.

Give Financial incentives for waste generators(residents and businesses) to participate in separatingmaterials for composting and recycling. An incentiveexample is a discounted rate for participating.

Collect all types of food and other compostablesseparately from all other recyclables and fromremaining trash for landfill.

Lessons in Moving Toward Zero Waste


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Create a simple and convenient system, with color-codedsorting/collection containers and signage with pictures ofmaterial.

Provide different size containers and up to daily service forbusinesses, especially for composting collection.

Make composting and recycling participation as or moreconvenient than putting trash out for the landfill.

Provide multi-media educational campaign to residents andbusinesses with clear messages and graphic pictures ofmaterials for source separation.

Reduce fossil fuel use and air emissions with alternativerenewable fuels for collection vehicles.



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Gain management support at all levels of the business orinstitution to make participation a part of job routine andresponsibility.

Give on-site assistance, multi-lingual training and addressneeds and concerns. Monitor participation andcontamination and give immediate feedback andassistance.

Test and demonstration programs starting with easierrecovery, then revise and expand, but avoid start and stoppilot programs.

Promote food service ware that is durably reusable,recyclable or compostable to reduce contamination andincrease 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


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Expand source reduction, reuse, recycling and composting andother programs and participation

Increase service provider and generator incentives

Improve material processing technologies (e.g., digestion) toreduce environmental impacts and diversify markets

Conducting extensive ongoing outreach and education

Require producer and consumer responsibility through policies andlegislation

Require products be reusable, recyclable or compostable

Push to eliminate tax and other subsidies that give preference tovirgin materials and landfilling waste

Extended Producer Responsibility


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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 billfor recycling or disposal.

State should pursue legislation to give incentives for the redesignof products to make them less toxic, and shift the cost forrecycling and disposal of products from local government to theproducer and distributor of the product.

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

requiring less toxic products and for manufacturers to takeresponsibility for collecting and recycling their products at the endof their useful life.


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Thank You!

Jack MacySan Francisco

Department of the Environment

[email protected]

Documents

San Francisco's Zero Waste Policies and Programs