The Essefficist Fills More Recycling Containers Than You Can Imagine

We had good luck with Robert Reed, Director of Corporate Communications for Sunset Scavenger, last time we had a recycling question, Chesh, so we went back to the source for this one too. We also spoke to Gloria Chan, who works in Public Outreach & Education at the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

First off, Chesh, it is not in fact correct that "the money the city makes from curbside recycling doesn't actually go to help pay for city services but rather is used as savings given to homeowners, and therefore less revenue from depleted curbside bins doesn't actually cost the city." Every five years, the City, as represented by the Rate Board (don't ask), sets certain recycling quotas (along with the rates paid by customers) in a contract with Sunset Scavenger. Before rates were last set, in 2001, which is also when the current recycling program was instituted, excess recycling revenues were in fact rebated to customers. Since that time, though, the City and the the company basically agree on a set ceiling of how much money should be generated monthly from the sale of baled recyclable material. If Sunset Scavenger doesn't generate enough recycling revenue, meaning they aren't collecting or properly handling as much recyclable material as their contract specifies, they are required to make up the difference to the City. If Sunset Scav makes extra revenue, it's split 50/50 between them and the City. That way, there's an incentive for Sunset Scavenger to recycle as much as possible. The City's cut of any extra recycling revenue goes into a city-managed fund that helps to offset future rate increases for customers -- most San Francisco households pay $18.50 per month for garbage pickup, which is apparently quite reasonable -- by covering costs for extra services associated with recycling and collection of garbage and hazardous materials like paint, batteries, and motor oil. So extra funds from recycling are not actually returned directly to homeowners and do go to the City. Or something like that.

So, about the poachers. Homeless guys with shopping carts and little old ladies with grocery bags just don't make that big of a dent on the massive amount of recycling that goes on in San Francisco. It's not like Norcal Waste Systems, Sunset Scavenger's parent company, is happy about people going into their carts and pulling out a couple of aluminum cans, but it's just not that big of a deal so they're not losing too much sleep over it. Mostly, it's kind of just a nuisance (and mostly to the customers themselves), what with the noise and the mess and all. What is a big deal, though, is "mosquito fleets." That's what Sunset Scavenger and the SFPD call pickup trucks and vans going around town in the middle of the night emptying out people's curbside recycling and selling it to recyclers outside of the City. Norcal actually helps pay wages for SFPD to assign officers to code enforcement regarding theft of recyclables, with a special focus on mosquito fleets. Since Sunset Scavenger started using the wheeled and lidded blue carts we've had since 2001, though, mosquito fleets aren't as big of a problem. Because recyclable materials are no longer sorted at home by the public -- bottles and cans in blue tubs, paper in bags -- swiping curbside recycling is more complicated and isn't as attractive to bulk poachers.

Well, that's it for this week, kids. For even more info on the everyday things going on around you, email your questions about San Francisco or your own exciting life to the Essefficist (or just post 'em in the comments).