What's New!

Huge emissions savings, other environmental benefits achieved through urban compost collection program
Growers ask people in cities to send food scraps from holiday meals back to farms

SAN FRANCISCO: Officials and local farmers announced today that city residents and businesses have composted more than 620,000 tons of material, mostly food scraps, through the city's green cart program.


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What's New!

Stop trashing resources
New campaign shows garbage isn't garbage at all

SAN FRANCISCO: A new effort to help people see garbage in a different way is rolling through San Francisco neighborhoods.

Glance at a recycling truck in the City today and you may see a truck that looks like the sides were removed. That's because 3D graphics on 20 collection trucks give the illusion that you can see all materials inside.




What's New!

S.F. moving all recyclables
For the planet, for everyone's benefit, please keep recycling

It's important to recycle and compost no matter what is happening with our economy. Recycling protects the environment, saves energy, and helps offset the cost of your garbage service.

SF Moving All Recyclables   SF Moving All Recyclables


Other News Releases

S.F. Trash Fleet

Taking the guesswork out of recyclingKey steps to boost recycling - SAN FRANCISCO: When asked, Ken Crosetti used to tell people he was a garbage man. Now he says "I'm a recycling collector."

More recycling trucks than garbage trucks
San Francisco's garbage and recycling collection companies operate more recycling than garbage trucks. The combined fleet of Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling includes 321 collection trucks, 174 recycling, 147 garbage. All run on alternative fuel. More Information...
Taking the guesswork out of recyclingTaking the guesswork out of recycling - SAN FRANCISCO: The days of looking for the chasing arrows symbol on the bottom of plastic cups and containers and trying to remember which numbers are OK to recycle are about to end.

Effective Tuesday, April 22, 2008 (Earth Day) the curbside recycling program will expand to include all "rigid" (stiff) plastics.

Residents and businesses will be encouraged to recycle all plastic tubs and lids, yogurt and clamshell containers (clean, without food or liquids), cups, buckets, plant containers, and other non-film plastics. More Information...
S.F. trash fleet now 100 percent alternative fuelS.F. trash fleet now 100 percent alternative fuel - SAN FRANCISCO: We don't burn straight diesel in garbage trucks in San Francisco. Not anymore.

Our entire fleet of collection and transfer trucks, more than 385 vehicles, runs on alternative fuel.

The garbage companies serving the city actively test and use alternatives to conventional fuels. In 2001 we built the first liquefied natural gas fueling station in the Bay Area. We use LNG, a cryogenic fuel, in five collection trucks and in eight transfer trucks.
Artist in Residence Program

Midway Mecanique by Paul Cesewski Reception for Artist In Residence at the SF Dump: Tinkerer and kinetic artist extraordinaire, Paul Cesewski recreates an old-fashioned carnival midway at the dump as the latest artist-in-residence at SF Recycling and Disposal. The exhibition will have the ambiance of a carnival and will feature pedal powered marvels and games of amusement made from found and recycled materials. Cesewski harks back to a simpler and more innocent time. His motto, "Fun is the universal language", becomes obvious in the bicycle powered kinetic sculpture he created while at the dump.
Musicians, conductor perform score composer wrote at SF dump - SAN FRANCISCO: Original score played on instruments made from trash Friday, November 16 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.

Cross a recycling company with a classical composer and what do you get? A symphony written at the San Francisco dump played on musical instruments made from garbage.

Classical musicians play saws, pipes, mixing bowls, bottles, pans, deck railings, oil drums, bike wheels, bird cages, and shopping carts to produce Junkestra, an original score in three movements.
Playful junk sculptures say look at your trash - SAN FRANCISCO: Nemo Gould builds sculptures that make people smile. His junkyard dog, oscillating octopus and bee/mosquito are playful creations made from discarded aluminum and wood Gould scavenged at the San Francisco dump.

The 31-year-old artist aims to create pieces that give people "a moment of wonderment before you turn back into a grownup." The public is invited this Friday and Saturday to check out pieces Gould created while working as the artist in residence at SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc.
Sculpture made from Styrofoam®, epoxy, silicone and acrylic sealants on display at Embarcadero Center Sculptor Ellen Babcock shapes large pieces of Styrofoam® then applies layers of discarded construction sealants to create sculptures that closely resemble chunks of marble and agate.

Babcock's sculptures are featured in a street-level display at One Embarcadero Center in San Francisco's Financial District. She made the unusual pieces while working with garbage in the Artist In Residence Program at the Solid Waste Transfer Station and Recycling Center, also known as "the dump," in San Francisco.

Art made from garbage on display at Mills Building in San Francisco - SAN FRANCISCO: Colorful aprons made from plastic bags and tarps. Furniture and sculpture shaped from discarded wood and metal. Paintings created with recycled paint and other found objects from the city dump.

You can view these uncommon pieces at "The Art of Recycling Returns," an exhibit in the lobby of the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street in the heart of the city's Financial District. The exhibit includes 52 works by 20 artists who participated in the Artist in Residence program at SF Recycling & Disposal, the city dump.
Schizophrenic nature of technology explored in art opening at SF dump - SAN FRANCISCO: Computers, cell phones, TVs and monitors, hand-held electronics that play digitized music and video games -- carefully designed ad campaigns present the tools and toys of modern technology as must haves in our changing world.

PDAs, wireless headsets and HD TVs make us more efficient and link us to information and entertainment. By design, the latest and greatest electronics give us direct access to work, play and each other. As the high-tech industry puts the finishing touches on another product-launch January, two artists in San Francisco are highlighting the less glamorous side of our modern obsession with digital devices - electronic waste.
Compost
Compost Bin Sunset Scavenger and the City host third annual Great Compost Giveaway - SAN FRANCISCO: Twenty truckloads of compost made from the City's green cart program will be given to San Francisco residents.

The Third Annual Great Compost Giveaway is a "bring your own bucket" event providing 5 to 10 gallons of nutrient-rich compost free to residents. The finished compost, a custom blend made from food scraps collected from restaurants and homes in San Francisco, is a great planting mix for home gardens and container plants.
Compost BinAnnual San Francisco Compost Giveaway Doubles in Size - SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco's garbage company and the City will double the size of the annual Great Compost Giveaway by giving out 300-cubic-yards of finished compost at this "bring your own bucket" event. Every green thumb will receive 5-10 gallons of our blended "gourmet planting mix," including Four Course Compost made from food scraps collected in San Francisco.
Compost BinNew annex becomes green central in S.F. - SAN FRANCISCO: To accommodate growth of the Food Scrap Compost Program the San Francisco garbage companies developed a facility just for handling food scraps and yard trimmings destined for local compost facilities.

The Organics Annex, a one-of-a-kind building in San Francisco, will open at 10 a.m. Thursday. Inside, food scraps and yard trimmings collected by route trucks will be transferred to long-haul trucks headed to Bay Area compost facilities.
Compost LoadingWhile most shop, vineyards seize any chance to feed soil naturally - December 21, 2006 - NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - Christmas is Monday and local vineyards are stilling applying compost.

Crews managed by Mulehead Growers and Cline Cellars operated three different spreaders on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 on vineyards at 1590 Stage Gulch Road in Sonoma County.
Compost LoadingCompost rush at local vineyards continues into December - December 5, 2006 - NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - The rush by local vineyards to apply food-scrap compost before winter storms arrive continues at a record pace as blue skies extend into December.

Between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1, 2006 area vineyards received and applied more than 450 truckloads (16,000 cubic yards) of compost made with food scraps collected from San Francisco and Oakland restaurants.
Compost SpreadingVineyards apply "custom blends" of food-scrap compost before winter - November 1, 2006 - In the last 60 days modern compost facilities outside Vacaville and Gilroy have shipped 7,500 cubic yards (218 truckloads) of finished compost made with food scraps collected from San Francisco and Oakland restaurants to local vineyards.

The compost, made from a diverse feedstock of kitchen trimmings and plate scrapings, returns nutrients to vineyards and farms, stimulates microbial activity and improves soil structure.
Corporate News

Norcal Waste Systems Redefines the Waste Industry For Good
San Francisco, Calif. - April 27, 2009 - Norcal Waste Systems announced today that it formally changed its corporate name to Recology™.

The name change is rooted in the company's 89-year heritage as one of the nation's first urban recyclers. Recology, with clear roots in words like recycling, renewal, reuse and reduction, signals that the company will be leading the evolution of the industry-eliminating waste from the vocabulary of consumer and industry alike.