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Loading...For San Francisco, the truth is in the trash
San Francisco is serious about going green, with a zero waste goal for 2020, and a zero carbon goal for city government. You would assume that the residents are deeply committed, but unfortunately, the trash tells a different story.
I recently learned that despite a simple system for sorting compostable and recyclable material, 2/3 of what ends up in the city garbage trucks and dumps could be diverted to either the compost bin or reuse. Now I don’t mean to call-out San Franciscans; San Francisco actually does do a really good job of avoiding waste – over 70% is diverted. But still, even in this green city, the average garbage can is filled primarily with materials that aren’t trash.
Garbage ends up in landfills or incinerated, both of which contribute directly to greenhouse gas emissions. The methane from landfills is particularly nasty, and bad habits at the waste bin could up your personal carbon footprint by as much as 5-10%. Failing to recycle materials also means more virgin material is used in producing the stuff we use every day. This also has an impact on the climate…ClimatePath’s data sources show that paper and glass produced from new materials are about 60% more carbon intensive than using recycled materials.
After doing all (or at least some) of the right things to buy sustainable products, reduce energy use, and even offset some of what we can’t reduce, it would be a shame to leave those benefits at the curb. So take the few extra moments to sort instead of toss.
Aside from being more conscientious about our own garbage habits, it’s easy to influence others. Strange as it may seem, I have noticed that while you can’t always get people to mimic your purchase behaviors (for example nobody can convince me to trade out my Cherry Diet Pepsi habit), people do tend to mimic and respond to disposal behavior. Put a can out with a sign that says “food scraps” or “recycle bottles here”, and people will fill it. What an easy way to make a difference!
Read more: composting, global warming, landfills, recycling
Photo copyright KellyBoreson at istockphoto.com
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Hi everyone. I just wanted to share this information with you all which I just happened to stumble upon while I was looking at the Stonyfield Farms(which is one of the sponsors or this program and a very environmentally conscience organic company) website. I discovered a program called Preserve Gimme 5 which deals with recycling #5 plastic. In many communities, people cannot recycle #5 plastic. Many products which our society consumes such as grocery products like yogurt(Stonyfield Farms wanted to help find a way to recycle its #5 yogurt containers), hummus tubs, butter tubs, cream cheese tubs, etc. Preserve Gimme 5 is a program which you can recycle your #5 plastic at select Whole Foods markets where there are special Preserve Gimme 5 bins(see the Whole Foods website) or you can mail them in to the address indicated on the Preserve Gimme 5 website: http://www.preserveproducts.com/recycling/gimme5.html
Once the #5 plastic is collected the company who runs this Preserve Gimme 5 program turns the plastic into other products like toothbrushes and razors. I think this is a great opportunity for people to recycle their #5 plastic since many products we use are #5 plastic, not only food containers but many other things as well. This program will hopefully reduce much #5 plastic, which many people just have to throw away. They clog our landfills and do not decompose for at least for hundreds of years while the harmful
I recycle everything I possibly can including every little piece of metal, every little piece of paper, and all plastic #s 1-7. My town only does 1 and 2 but I pass the other numbered plastics onto others I know who can recycle them in their communities. In exchange I encourage others I know to give me their dry cell batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, hearing aid batteries, etc.) and their incondescent and flourescent light bulbs, because there or slots for these at my transfer station.
We live in Chicago, which despite its green strivings, does not have curbside recycling citywide at this time. So, in order to be sure our recyclables are not just thrown in with the city garbage collection, we must take them to a special recycling center a couple of miles from our house, which we have been doing for the last year or so. Prior to this we had a blue bag system and we were, literally the only house on our block to take part. We bought and used the blue bags to separate our recyclables from the garbage and sort them appropriately. We are disheartened by the lack of voluntary participation and wonder what, if anything, can be done to encourage, or even require compliance. In the suburb where we used to live the municipality charged for garbage collection but picked up recycling for free and that seemed to encourage compliance. There is simply too much garbage in this country and we must make it a priority to address the problem.
It's not practical for me to compost. I wouldn't know what to do with it, and it's much too complex for me. Also, I'm a student and I live with my mother who could probably be accurately described as anti-environment. It's difficult to do much of anything without her support.
everyone i know recycles to a degree, but almost none buy recycled products. the usual complaints are that recycled products are more expensive and less durable. i agree, but there are some products that can compete. i encourage everyone to keep testing, and buy when it seems reasonable. or buy recycled every other time, or every third purchase, if you really can't justify the price. consider it a donation to the planet.
My husband has a composter and we do a lot of composing everyday and we also recycle everything we cam but the people don't and that is sad because everyone has recycling bin but it is all if you want to it is not by law of which I think it should be or we shouldn't have to pay for their bins because they don't use it
Or the people that do recycle should get a credit towards their property taxes or coupons for food stuffs or something to thank the people who do recycle.
The squeeky wheel always get oiled and maybe all of us that do recycle should speak-up and maybe that could happen.
The sad thing is on our block and it is a long block maybe ten (10) houses recycle and that is a high figure. The press just doesn't say enough about it like they did before and people don't want to go through the extra work because you have to wash what you recycle. Oh we will all pay for what we are not doing for Mother Earth by eating our own poison and our lives as we know it today will change in ways we don't even comprehend yet and that is a fact.
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