Courtesy of yourgreenfriend.comSAN FRANCISCO- Already with some of the strongest environmental laws in the country, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has passed a new ordinance that will make it mandatory for all city occupants to separate recyclables, compostables, and regular landfill trash. In addition, they will have to pay for it to be picked up.
Mayor Gavin Newsom signed the Ordinance 081404 last week, according to his office, and it will go into effect in late September of this year.
The ordinance will affect both the residential and commercial sectors of the city, requiring the separation of garbage into blue for recyclables, green for compostables, and black for landfill trash.
Among the details and complexities of ordinance are the definitions of the various types of waste, which are as follows:
- Recyclable: papers, bottles, and cans.
- Compostable: any food scraps, soiled paper, and plant trimmings, as well as disposable plastic food service ware and bags if labeled compostable.
- Trash: anything that is not recyclable, compostable, hazardous waste, construction material, or demolition debris.
- Refuse: recyclables, compostables, and trash, but not construction, demolition debris, or hazardous waste.
In addition, owners of residential, multifamily, commercial properties, events, or other facilities that generate refuse “must subscribe to and pay for adequate refuse collection services, and provide an accessible location for sufficient levels of service” according to the ordinance.
Fast food and takeout restaurants, in particular, will be required to place containers near a main exit with at least one for each recyclables, compostables, and trash for customers to use.
Facilities that don’t have adequate storage space for waste containers are required under the ordinance to make arrangements to share containers with “contiguous” or adjoining properties.
Failures to comply with the new ordinance will result in fines of varying degrees, though the ordinance only specifies what the initial penalty will be. It reads that, “the fine for any violations at a dwelling or commercial property which generates less than one cubic yard of refuse per week may not initially exceed $100.”
Further, if a dwelling needs to be inspected to make sure that it is in compliance with the ordinance, the owner will have to pay an inspection fee “equal to $167 per hour of Department of Public Health staff time spent during the inspection.”
In addition, if in violation, the ordinance says that owner will also be responsible for “reasonable enforcement costs incurred by the city, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.” Also, if violations are not paid, the city will have the right to put a lien on a property.
The San Francisco Department of the Environment will be providing further information regarding what materials are acceptable as recyclables, compostables, and trash.
In addition, the full ordinance will be available for easy internet reading on the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors website.