The city and county of San Francisco is quite small for a large
city, covering 122 km2 with a population of 835,364 (UN-HABITAT,
2010). It is located on a hilly peninsula separating San Francisco Bay
from the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco has a long history in waste
collection systems from informal waste recycling in the early
twentieth century to the modern collection systems today. The
initiator of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Urban Environmental Accords, San Francisco is a national and
international environmental leader