By Julie M.
Posted on Aug. 9, 2009. Listed in:
In the month or so since San Francisco introduced the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country, most citizens seem pleased with the mandate. And recipients of the city's tonnage of compost are positively overjoyed.
Several companies including a composting firm in Dixon, California, and a winery in nearby Sonoma County are thrilled to receive literally tons of nutrient-rich city compost comprised of food and plant waste.
San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, who recently announced that he's running for governor, says the city's new composting law is part of a “local global climate action plan” to reduce greenhouse gases, especially methane emitted from overstuffed landfills.
Newsom's goal is to have a 75 percent recycling rate by 2010, with zero city waste by 2020. Under the law all individuals and businesses must separate refuse into recyclables, compost, and trash, and deposit it into one of three different-colored containers designated for that type of garbage.
Fines on placing, say, a plastic water bottle or a banana peel in a regular trash bin could result in a $100 fine when enforcement starts in 2010. Repeat offenders could receive fines ranging from $150 to 200.
Other cities, including Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Seattle, all have mandatory recycling laws, though not as tough as San Francisco's.
City officials are quick to say they won't be punishing violators of the law too harshly, adding that Sunset Scavenger Co., the company that processes San Francisco's garbage, won't be picking through people's multi-colored bins but instead will leave what the company calls a “love note” to let customers know when they're not in compliance.
Yet some, including Sean Elsbernd, one of the only two city supervisors who voted against the proposition, believes the law is over the top and will irritate homeowners who are already doing their best to be green.
And many residents have expressed their concerns that the ordinance reeks of “Big Brother-ism” and the “trash police,” while others worry that the law passed without adequate thought given to how to enforce and regulate it.
But for Jepson Prairie Organics and Eat Well Farms in Dixon, and Inman Family Wines in Sonoma County, all of which receive regular truckloads of San Francisco compost already, they are thrilled to receive San Francisco's food waste.
Waste, scientists say, that is rich in nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and calcium due to the food diversity from a city that truly is cultural melting pot of ethnicity.
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