San Francisco, Day 14 of 14: Insights from Two Weeks of Trash

Manufacturers, Municipalities & Consumers (MMC)

I've been carrying my trash around for two weeks. And the fact that I only have a small bag of stuff destined for the landfill really goes to show what a good recycling and composting program can do. Here are my biggest insight from this process:

• Manufacturers need to push even harder to make sure that their all or at least most of their packaging is either recyclable or compostable. If that were the case, I'd have almost nothing to throw in the landfill.
• Municipalities need to develop extensive recycling and composting programs. I'm not sure if the city of San Francisco runs its recycling and composting operations at a loss, but other cities need to emulate their programs. I would have had a much larger burden to carry if San Francisco did not offer me so many "green" services.
• Consumers also need to get on the band wagon. If consumers don't participate in recycling and composting programs at work and at home, all of the efforts of the Manufacturers and the Municipalities will be for nothing. And that means increased education. Everyone needs to toot the green horn and help other people learn how to integrate recycling and composting practices into their lives.

The Final Trash Inventory

Here's a photo of my total sum of trash (unsorted).

Here's a photo of the sorted pile. Note the large quantities of dental floss, bottle caps, plastic bags, and assorted packaging materials.

Lessons Learned

• Post-It notes are, generally speaking, recyclable items (make sure your recycling service providers accept "mixed paper")
• Envelopes with plastic see through windows are recyclable (at least in San Francisco, not sure how they separate the paper from the plastic!)

Here are the items I didn't really have to carry around for two weeks.

Next Steps

So, what am I going to do about all this? What's the net-net? Well, I think there's a few things I can do:

• Pester the companies I buy products from to use 100% recyclable or compostable packaging materials
• Investigate the economics of running municipal recycling and composting operations and see if I can't get other cities to offer them to their citizens
• Spread the word! Educate people I know about how and why to recycle and compost

Farewell

Lastly, here are a few parting photos. First, my trash going in the Landfill bin at work.

And a picture of me, with my EMPTY bags.

Over and Out.

Sincerely,

Rob Stokes