Green Guys Media

On October 21, the first mandatory composting law went into effect in San Francisco, which is already a leader in the recycling field, with 72% of its waste escaping the landfill. The new law states that every residence and business in the city must have three (city-provided) color-coded bins for trash (blue for recycling, black for trash, and green for composting). If waste is not properly sorted, a fine can be imposed on the resident and/or business. The fine isn’t steep—$100 for most customers (anyone who generates less than a cubic yard of refuse a week), but enough leverage to allow people to push for this kind of progress. Employees or apartment-renters now have the law on their side when they request landlords to offer recycling options. And what happens to all this composted material? The scraps are trucked to a facility in Vacaville, where they are processed for 90 days. Then they are sold to farms, vineyards, and golf courses around the region. Widespread participation would put San Francisco well within reach of their goal of zero waste by 2020. Now this has made realize that homeowners/apartment-dwellers in LA have green bins as well—and yes!, we can put compostable food in them—but think of your green bin as vegan – only veggie, fruit, and grain scraps can go in. We can’t let SF have all the green fun – let’s start composting LA!