San Francisco committed to eliminating the modern landfill. The
idea, concocted in 2002, was to reach a “zero waste” existence
by 2020, which “means that we send zero discards to the landfill
or high-temperature destruction,” said the San Francisco
Department of the Environment. “The city and county of San
Francisco believes achieving zero waste is possible.” Does
the name Sisyphus come to mind?
An environmental code was developed in 2003, then six years
later the Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance, which
requires everyone in the city to separate recyclables,
compostables, and landfill garbage, was passed. Noncompliance is
a finable offense.
In addition to mandatory recycling and composting, San Francisco
also requires “any site that generates more than 40 cubic yards
of waste per week to complete waste audits every three years,”
says Waste Dive. Those that fail are “required to hire on-site
facilitators at their own expense for one year.” More than 400
sites are subject to the reviews, as well as the $1,000-per-day
fines that can be levied on those not meeting the standard.
Despite the efforts and expectations, Politico reported last
month that San Francisco is “nowhere close to that goal.” After
falling for years, the amount of garbage being sent to landfills
has been growing. Officials have tried to push residents into
generating less waste by cutting the size of curbside containers
by half, from 32 gallons to 16.
As of December 2019, it
has still not met the goal. In fact, sensing the inevitable,
during September 2018, San Francisco updated the zero waste
goals to these two pledges:
Reduce municipal solid waste generation by 15% by 2030
(reducing what goes to recycling, composting, and trash).
Reduce disposal to landfill and incineration by 50% by 2030
(reducing what goes in the black trash bins).
Incidentally,
According to author and journalist John Tierney, “All the
trash generated by Americans for the next 1,000 years would
fit on one-tenth of 1% percent of the land available for
grazing.”