SAN FRANCISCO - With just 17 days to go before the nation's first mandatory composting law goes into effect here, most of the eye-rolling is over.
Now that the "only in San Francisco" reaction has died down, city workers are hustling to get the ubiquitous green and blue bins out to thousands of apartment houses and commercial buildings.
The city that likes to be on the cutting edge of governmental and social policy decided in June to bring mandatory food scrap composting to this already green community. When the program is launched Oct. 21, it will be the first of its kind in the nation.
But perhaps the biggest and most overlooked aspect of the new law will be its impact on the occupants of the 220,000-odd apartment units who have not previously had a chance to participate in the city's aggressive voluntary recycling programs.
The new law says those apartment dwellers - along with occupants of large commercial buildings - will all now be a part of mandatory recycling efforts.
"Right now our big push is to get the (compost) bins out to the apartment resident population," said Jared Blumenfeld, director of the Department of the Environment, which oversees San Francisco recycling.
"Individual apartment dwellers are calling us every day saying they've heard of the new law and really want to participate. They're telling us that they are putting pressure on their landlords and property managers to get signed up for the program," he said.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said he has been buoyed by the response.
"Where previously many apartment buildings did not offer the full range of recycling services, the Universal Recycling and Composting ordinance assures that all residents and businesses have equal access to the program," Newsom said in a statement. "The city already recycles 72 percent of its waste material, and we expect this number to go even higher as more people have access to the blue and green carts."
Many cities already have mandatory recycling laws. But what's getting attention is that a major American city is now moving to collect food waste in order to make compost for local farming operations.
The food scraps will first be hauled by 18-wheelers to composting facilities in Vacaville and Dixon. From there, the material will be turned into compost and sold to Northern California wine-grape and vegetable growers. By using the city's rich - some say four-course - compost, the farmers say they enjoy larger, healthier harvests while using smaller amounts of petroleum-based fertilizers.
Officials add that the composting operation not only will reduce the amount of material going to landfills but also will curb the city's contribution to global warming.
With food scraps turned into compost and then used on crops, the material cannot create methane as it would if sent to a conventional landfill. Methane is one of four principal greenhouse gases that scientists say are contributing to the global warming crisis.
Blumenfeld said phones at his office are ringing off the hook. Department workers and volunteers are delivering as many as 100 new sets of composting bins a day to residents and tenants at locations across the city.
He noted that going to mandatory recycling - and adding in the food scrap/composting element - was the only way for the city to exceed its current 72 percent voluntary recycling rate. The city generates approximately 2.1 million tons of waste each year.
Most criticisms about the plan have been focused on how the city will enforce the new composting law.
Robert Reed, a spokesman for Recology Inc., the company that collects and hauls San Francisco's recyclables and compostables, says the plan is to employ a combination of community outreach, cajoling and hand-holding.
And, yes, the truly recalcitrant will face more counseling by the city, letters and then fines to ensure compliance.
For single-family residences and small businesses, the maximum fine could be $100. For apartment buildings with five or more units and commercial buildings, non-compliance could cost as much as $1,000 a citation.
But Reed says his company and the city don't want to turn into "compost cops."
"That's not what we're about. Sure, our drivers will be the ones who see whether folks are complying or not, but their first goal is to work with people - to get them to understand why this program is worthy of their support and cooperation," Reed said.
According to one 48-year-old San Franciscan who has an apartment in the city's Sunset District, the program should be received with open arms by her fellow tenants.
"We've been separating food scraps on a voluntary basis for quite a while now. But my friends who live in larger buildings haven't had this option," said Arlynne Camire. "By going to a mandatory basis, the landlords of these buildings won't be able to drag their feet anymore. I think you'll find a majority of tenants solidly behind this."
Waste management authorities elsewhere say they will be keeping an eye on the San Francisco program.
"Seeing a city's food waste practically eliminated from its waste stream is a very exciting thing. We applaud San Francisco for taking this on," said Kyle Pogue, a spokesman for the state Integrated Waste Management Board in Sacramento.
"We suspect that this program will be a model which other cities in California and other states in the nation will soon be following."
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