THE LEAGUE
OF WOMEN VOTERS
OF PALO ALTO
December 5, 2014
3921 E. BAYSHORE RD., SUITE 209  PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94303  650-903-0600  www.lwvpaloalto.org
March 19, 2015
Mayor Karen Holman
Palo Alto City Council
285 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Re: Agenda Item for March 23 City Council Meeting:
Approval of a Residential Curbside Compost Collection Program and Adopting a Budget Amendment
Ordinance for $387,000 for the Purchase of Kitchen Buckets and New Outreach Materials
Dear Mayor Holman and Councilmembers:
The League of Women Voters of Palo Alto supports our community's efforts to reduce the generation of solid
waste and to reduce air pollution, such as uncaptured methane from food refuse in landfills. Therefore, we support
the City’s Zero Waste goal and this proposed program to develop a convenient method for composting food
wastes and those products contaminated with food.
We wish to thank our City Manager, Jim Keene, for his proposal to develop a new residential curbside collection
and composting program that commingles loose food scraps with yard trimmings in the green carts and to set
aside $387,000 for materials needed to implement this new program.
We feel that this is an effective and convenient action to minimize both solid waste and greenhouse gases.
We ask our City leaders to help us join other cities and counties in California that already compost food, such as
Alameda County, San Mateo County, Santa Cruz County, Sonoma County, San Francisco, and the City
of Stockton.
Thank you again.
Ellen Forbes, President