SAN
FRANCISCO
Waste Management
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 02
Introduction LIFECYCLE OF
Area, Population , Economic WASTE
condition , amount of waste Method of Segregation, Treatment of
generated. Waste
03 04
Money made out Conclusion
of waste San Francisco Aiming for 'Zero
It also makes money by cutting Waste; by 2020
out waste
Introductio
01 n
San Francisco itself is art…
every block is a short story, every
hill a novel, every home a poem,
every dweller within immortal.
~ William Saroyan
873,965
Is the population of San Francisco
About San Francisco :- #ffd4c5
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San
Francisco, is a cultural, commercial, and financial center
in the U.S. state of California. Located in Northern
California, San Francisco is the 17th most populous city in
the United States , and the fourth most
populous in California, with 873,965 residents as of
2020.It covers an area of about 46.9 square miles (121 square
kilometers), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco
Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second
most densely populated large U.S. city, and the fifth most
densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the
five New York City boroughs.
Economic condition of San
Francisco
With a GDP of $501 billion, the San Francisco
metropolitan area is the sixth largest economy in
the U.S. and an important hub in the global
economy. The median household income in San
Francisco is $96,265 and there are 99,307 small,
non-employer establishments. Moreover, the
unemployment rate is more than a percentage
point lower than the country as a whole and
average hourly wages are $10 more than the
national average. While the overall economy in
San Francisco is strong, there is significant
variation in household and small business financial
outcomes.
TOTAL AMOUNT OF WASTE
GENERATED
The average American produces about 4.4 pounds of
waste per day. Roughly 1.5 pounds of that is composted
or recycled, meaning the U.S. avoids sending just 34
percent of its waste to landfills, according to the EPA.
San Francisco provides a much different narrative. The
city diverts about 80 percent of its waste from landfills,
or more than 1.5 million tons every year.
While landfill disposal is at the lowest level on record
and has been reduced by half over the last decade, San
Francisco still sends 444,000 tons of material to the
landfill each year, which is enough to fill the
TransAmerica building nine times.
TYPES OF WASTE BEING
GENERATED
PLASTIC E-WASTE
ORAGNIC PAPER
GLASS METALS
Method of
Waste Segregation
Thanks to bold public policy and educational initiatives, Ultimately, San
Francisco aims to reach zero waste. That means recycling, composting,
reusing, and reducing consumption so that nothing goes to either the landfill
or incineration.
Standard residential services include a 64-gallon blue recycling bin, a 32-
gallon green composting bin, and 16-gallon black trash bin.
Treatment of Recyclable
waste
The final element that sets San Francisco’s apart is the sheer
scale of its recycling operations. All of the city’s recyclables are
brought to Recycle Center, a 200,000 square foot warehouse on
Pier 96 that processes 40 to 45 tons of materials per hour. A team
of 14 people work alongside high-tech screens, magnets and
optical sorters to weed out contamination and separate the paper,
metals and plastics. Similar materials are placed in a bale together,
and shipped out to recycling plants both domestically and abroad.
TREATMENT OF
COMPOSTABLE
WASTE
As for the compost, all of the city’s yard waste and food
scraps are brought to Jepson Prairie Organics, one of two
compost facilities serving the city and located approximately
60 miles east, processes about 100,000 tons of organic
material annually from across the Bay Area., about 60 miles
northeast of San Francisco. Here, compostable are weighed,
ground up and blended. Eventually, the nutrient-rich product
is sold as fertilizer to vineyards in wine country and nut
growers in the Central Valley.
Treatment Of
Landfill waste
Only half a million tons of material end up in the city’s landfill
every year. The collection truck empties material into a large pit 15
feet deep in transfer station . At middle level , a bull dozer runs over
it and then bulldozer pushes. These materials to one end of pit to
transfer trailer below and then transfer trailer dumps these material
to the near landfill These materials don't get sorted and recycled.
MONEY MADE OUT OF WASTE
Recyclable
The city diverts about 80% of its
20%
waste from landfills, or more than
1.5 million tons every year.
Landfills 80
About 20% waste is in Landfills
and is aimed to be 0% soon.
%
Money Made at Recology
● Garbage and recycling collection rates are structured to incentivize recycling and composting for both
Recology and its customers.
● All customers pay a minimum collection service fee to Recology, plus additional fees based on the
volume of garbage they create.
● For residents Recology provides recycling and composting services at no additional cost and for
corporates they provide up to 75 percent discount.
● So this way, Recology profits in two ways:
i)It retains the revenue it recieves from recycling and composting services, as well as final sale .
ii)It receives up to a US $2 million bonus based on corporates.
● To help meet goals and increase the value of diverted materials, the company has invested heavily in
recycling infrastructure, including mixed recyclables materials recovery facilities (MRF) .Notably, it
has also developed a market for compost that goes to local farms and gardeners.
● The city has a small population of people who make a living collecting cardboard, metal, and e-waste
which have higher value markets because of environmentally preferable purchasing rules for state
agencies.
• San Francisco initially set trash collection
rates much higher than recycling and
composting rates. While rates are more
comparable now, residential bin sizes
provide a behavioral nudge..
• The agreement between Recology and
the Port of San Francisco for leasing land
at Pier 96 includes a first-source hiring
provision.
• This requires Recology to fill entry-level
jobs first with San Francisco’s Workforce
Development System, so that these jobs
go to economically disadvantaged people
from the city.
• The jobs are well paying, with a starting
rate of US $20/ hour compared to the city
minimum wage of US $10.24/hour.
Challenges, Action
s and Projected
Outcomes !
San Francisco had deployed its widely
successful solid waste management
program based on the ambitious goal of
zero waste by 2020.
To ensure that
no material goes Specifically, the City
to landfill or enacted strong waste
high temperature destru reduction policies;
ction, the city’s zero partnered with
wastegoal Recology,
means that products a like-minded materials
are designed and used management company,
according to the to innovate new
principle of highest and programs; and created
best use. To meet its zero a culture of recycling
waste goal, San and composting.
Francisco has used
a three-pronged
approach that
addresses the
legal,
administrative,
and social
challenges of
waste management
reform.
Production
and Packaging Consumption
Public and Government
Private discards Procurement
management
The City provides policy and oversight, develops program, sets financial incentives
for material generators and service providers, conducts outreach and enforcement,
and assists with technology research, while its primary
partner, Recology, tests and operates infrastructure to collect and process
recyclables, compostable and landfilled trash. Numerous other organization and
strong citizen engagement have played important roles in creating a culture of Zero
Waste in the City.
San Francisco’s Zero Waste efforts have
had a tremendous impact over the
last two decades. From 1990 to
2010, landfill diversion
increased from 35 percent to 80
percent. San Francisco
disposed 428,048 tonnes of material
in 2012, the lowest level on record. A
construction and demolition debris
ordinance has recovered tens
of thousands of tonnes of material.
Mandatory recycling and composting
increased organics collection 50
percent to more than
600 tonnes per day.
Conclusion
“There are a lot of things you
can do, but they’ll make such a
small difference
because the volumes are so
high.”
San Francisco suffered less than others. In the years
before China’s ban went into effect, Recology — the
privately-owned company that has a monopoly over
residential and commercial waste-collection in the
city — typically recycled around 85% of the waste
from the blue bins. That number has dipped only a
few percentage points since. However, San Francisco
still creates a lot of trash. In 2018, just under half of
all waste collected by Recology ended up in landfills
and incinerators.
That target proved impossible to
meet, and in 2018 Mayor London
Breed scaled back the city’s
immediate ambitions, pledging to
reduce total waste generation by 15
percent and disposal to landfill by
50 percent before 2030.
REFERENCES
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco
• https://www.sfpublicpress.org/despite-recycling-success-s-f-s-zero-waste-goal-remains-elusive/
• https://www.c40.org/profiles/2013-sanfran
• https://youtu.be/M-Bzet1y2mo
• https://www.cnbc.com
• https://www.dreamstime.com/rubbish-bins-recycling-different-types-waste-sort-plasti-plastic-organic-e-m
etal-glass-paper-vector-illustration-image119750510
• https://sfenvironment.org/news/press-release/mayor-lee-announces-san-francisco-reaches-80-percent-land
fill-waste-diversion-leads-all-cities-in-north-america
THANK
YOU
By ~
I064-Sanskar Chaurasia
I068-Harshita Rathore
I072-Aditya Jain
I075-Vydheh Pulappadi
