San Francisco landfilled 15 percent less in 2010 than
it did in 2009. More astounding, its disposal in 2010
was approximately half what it was in 2000. In 2010,
San Franciscans each generated 1.7 kg of waste, 77
percent of which was recycled. The city estimates
that of the remaining 23 percent another 75 percent
is recyclable, which would bring the recycling rate
up to 90 percent. The city is close to ensuring full adoption of the Fantastic 3 program; it has taken two
decades for a behavioral and cultural shift to occur
across the city. While SFE goes after adoption by
the last 20 percent of larger multi-family dwellings
and businesses, it is also setting its sights on a new
plant to sort the garbage itself. A low temperature,
mechanical/biological separation plant, possibly with
anaerobic digestion, would allow sorters to pull apart
bags of garbage and recover smaller parts of the
waste stream. Ideally, this would be in place before
the zero waste deadline of 2020.