For Immediate Release
April 11, 2011
S.F. compost program offsets emissions from all traffic on Bay Bridge for over
2 years
Recology hosts Compost Giveaway so city residents can reap soil amendment they help create. Earth
Day is Friday, April 22.
San Francisco, Calif. (April 11, 2011): New data released today shows that in addition to returning
nutrients to local farms and vineyards, San Francisco’s compost collection program offsets hundreds
of thousands of tons of CO2 emissions, thereby helping lead efforts to reduce the Bay Area’s
carbon footprint.
San Francisco residents and businesses have placed more than 907,000 tons of food scraps and
plants in green bins since the program started as a pilot in 1996. Recology, the garbage and recycling
company based in San Francisco, collects those tons separately from other waste and composts the
scraps and plants producing 95,000 cubic yards of finished compost a year.
San Francisco’s compost program reduces landfill disposal and offsets greenhouse gas emissions by
reducing the amount of methane produced in landfills and by sequestering carbon in top soil. Since
its inception, the program has created a total CO2E benefit (methane avoided and carbon
sequestered) of 354,600 metric tons. That is equal to offsetting emissions from all vehicles crossing
the Bay Bridge* for 777 days, which is more than two years.
“These new numbers further illustrate what residents and businesses who actively participate in the
compost collection program intuitively understand, namely that placing food scraps and plants in
green bins so that these materials are composted instead of going to a landfill is a highly effective
way to help protect the environment,” says Mike Sangiacomo, Recology’s President and CEO.
The emissions offsets noted above are based on a protocol set by the Climate Action Reserve.
Because San Francisco’s modern compost program offers so many benefits (returning nutrients to
farms, reducing landfill disposal, avoiding methane creation, and storing carbon in top soil) this
program should be replicated in cities across the country. Doing so would give people across
America the means to compost all their food scraps and plant cuttings.
In the last four years, approximately 300 U.S. cities and universities started collecting food scraps for
composting. The potential to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replicating San Francisco’s
program is tremendous. According to the U.S. EPA, 32 million tons of food is thrown into landfills
or incinerators annually, contributing mightily to greenhouse gases.
“San Francisco’s composting program puts food scraps to their highest and best use: supporting
local agriculture and reducing our carbon footprint,” said San Francisco Environment Department
director Melanie Nutter. “San Francisco recycles and composts 77 percent of its waste stream, more
than any other city in the nation—and for that we can thank our partnership with Recology.”
Recology will host the Great Compost Giveaway from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 16 in
partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, the San Francisco Department
of Public Works, and the San Francisco Department of the Environment to thank residents and
businesses for helping make our city’s recycling program the most effective in the nation.
Participants will receive up to 5 gallons of a prized compost blend.
This year the Great Compost Giveaway will be held at four locations in San Francisco:
1. Alemany Farm, 700 Alemany Blvd. off 280 South.
2. Hayes Valley Farm, Oak St. and Octavia Blvd. parking lot, enter off Oak St.
3. McLaren Park, Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, upper parking lot, John F. Shelby Dr. at
Mansell St.
4. Ocean Beach Parking Lot at Golden Gate Park, 850 Great Highway between Lincoln
Way and Fulton St.
*Total average daily vehicle traffic, per the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, on the
Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge:
 240,000, 2009-10
 250,000, 2008-09
 251,000, 2007-08
 244,000, 2006-07
Media Contacts:
Adam Alberti, Singer Associates, Inc.
adam@singersf.com, cell: (415) 225-2443
Robert Reed, Recology
rreed@recology.com, cell: (415) 606-9183