Recology of the Coast Turns Garbage Into Gold

While acknowledging letter writers' trash can complaints in the Pacifica Tribune, overall I am pleased with Recology of the Coast, particularly its expanded recycling and composting service, which reduces my trash can size and rate significantly, and makes me feel warm and fuzzy about being able to divert all those chicken bones, coffee grounds, and milk cartons away from landfill. Recology turns garbage into gold: All that yucky stuff breaks down and ends up in farmers' fields growing new crops. The food chain is complete.

JOHN MAYBURY

EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Comments

[pacificapatriot]

Why do you wonder about layoffs? There are jobs everywhere.

[Concerned Pacifican]

What I am wondering about Recology is where all the employees are who have lost their jobs. And why my garbage gets picked up in the afternoon at like 3 or 4 instead of in the morning. Something to think about.

[Chris Porter, General Manager, Recology of the Coast]

Information for all: Pacifica residents went from 10 percent 20-gallon cans to 40 percent 20-gallon carts when ordering the new carts. This proves to me that the new programs are working. What goes in the greenwaste/organics cart? All your greenwaste, plant materials, lawn cuttings, dead flowers, weeds, cuttings, etc., AND your food scraps, coffee grounds, biodegradable takeout trays, soiled pizza boxes, McDonald's bag and hamburger wrapper, french fry holder, TACO BELL wrappings, sandwich paper wrappings, just to name a few. We will offer compost to our customers, but I don't know the exact timing yet. It will be similar to the Coastside giveaway. The redemption fees do not subsidize the garbage companies. People have told me that either bungee cords or pepper keep raccoons away.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks for clarifying, Chris. I use bungee cords. It is great to be able to divert almost everything to recycling or composting, then just have a tiny amount of actual trash, mostly kitty litter. I feel sorry for your guy who has to open my trashcan lid every Tuesday morning.)

[Bruce Hotchkiss]

Um, Maureen, are you saying I will have to wait for the children I don't have before I figure it out? It shouldn't be this difficult.

[Dan B. Underhill]

I gather from Deanna's comment that, in some neighborhoods, critters are actually getting into Recology cans. When I read about such concerns in the Trib, I assumed that the fellow was concerned about what he thought MIGHT happen. I have seen no evidence of animals being able to get into Recology cans in my neighborhood. Maybe East Sharp Park rodents are just a bit behind the learning curve.

[Cynthia Montanez]

You can buy finished compost at Broadmoor Lumber and Landscape Supply in South San Francisco, one of the few retail outlets that has it.

I've not tried this yet, but a friend recommended spraying the edge of the bin with bitter apple. She claims it's kept the raccoons out of her bin. It's worth a shot.

[Deanna]

Does anyone know if the compost made from the compostables is available for use by residents of Pacifica? If not, where does it go?

[Erin Macias]

I wish the cans came with carabiners! The coastal critters are having a dinner party!

[Maureen Torres]

This will all become second nature for the next generation. We had a Recology representative come and speak to us at my workplace and I learned a lot!

My pet peeve -- why are we still paying a redemption fee on our glass & plastic drinking bottles? Wasn't it originally to ensure we didn't dispose of these in the trash? Now that more and more communities have adopted single-stream waste recycling, why should our redemption fee subsidize the scavenger companies??

[Bruce Hotchkiss]

Maybe I'm just a dunderhead, but I have to pore through the Recology booklet trying to figure out what is recyclable, what is compostable, etc. Let's see, it's a paper product, but it's had food stuff on it; does it go in the recycle, compost, or garbage bin? Let's look that up.

We come close to filling the recycle bin every two weeks, but the compost bin just sits there -- nope, not even half full yet. We lend it out to our neighbors who have been doing some landscaping and have too much green waste. Meanwhile the garbage can is overflowing every week.

On another note, I have some "construction debris" (mostly leftover Sheetrock and wood). I checked the Recology booklet to see if it would qualify for the twice yearly large pickup. Nope, no construction debris. So I'm going to be forced to pay about $30 to get rid of about $5 worth of leftover Sheetrock. I guess I could crumble it up and put a little in my garbage every week, except as I said, the garbage can is so small it's overflowing already.

I'm trying, honest I am.

[John Keener]

Me too! It would be interesting to know whether solid waste per household decreases as result of Recology.

It is worth noting that my monthly bill is less (by $8 or so?) because we opted for the smallest trash container. We fall short of filling even that so far.