New San Francisco Law: Residents Must Separate Trash

Date: October 19, 2009

Source: News Room

The City of San Francisco's ordinance mandating that residents must separate compostable materials from their trash takes effect this week. It is the first city to have such a law and is part of Mayor Gavin Newsom's plan to divert 75% of the city's waste from landfills by 2010 and 100% by 2020. The new rule requires that residences and businesses have three color-coded bins for recycling, composting and trash. Compost includes food waste, yard trimmings, soiled paper and the like. Failing to properly sort refuse could result in a fine after several warnings. But city officials say fines, starting at $100 and potentially escalating to $1,000, will not come for months and will initially be levied only if homeowners repeatedly refuse to even sign up for composting bins, which are supplied to residents at no extra cost. Robert Reed, a spokesman for Recology, formerly Norcal Waste Systems and the city's prime contractor, said that demand for compost bins has soared since the ordinance was signed inJune and that collection of compost material has increased to 500 tons per day from 400 a year ago.

For more information, visit: www.sfenvironment.org.

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