>> evening everyone, welcome to the san francisco commission on the environment. >> today is tuesday 24th and it is 5:08 p.m. and we ask you that you turn off your cell phones and the first item on the agenda is roll call.

>> colleagues you will remember that we met our two newest colleagues, josefowitz and wan. and i remember when i was new to the commission and wanting to get to know everybody quickly and wanting the folks to get to know me and not having that chance last time, this was just a brief item just to meet our newest commissioners and when we have our retreat we will learn more about each other. but if we could just learn quickly a little bit about josefowitz, and welcome to the commission. and then commissioner wan. >> thank you, so much. >> president, arce. >> and i am thrilled to be here and the background and i have developed and built the solar power plants and some of the expertise that i hope to bring to the commission and to the department and to the city. i think that we have tremendous

assets, as a city, that we earn ourself and within the city that can be exploited to greener, energy supply and to reduce our electricity and fuel usage and i hope to bring some of my expertise and add to these important issues. >> thank you. >> thank you president, arce. >> and i will be working for the committee for the past 15 years and especially in the youth services in the apa islander committee and i hope that it will help to build a stronger school education program for environmental justice and as well as reaching out to under privileged committee and that will be bet foreeverybody and so it is definitely a great experience last time and have an exciting meeting and i am looking forward to this one. >> thank you. >> and there is a chance that i will be at light, this one

might be shorter. >> guarantee it. >> if you can call the next item. >> any public comment on this item it >> thank you. >> any public comment? >> seeing none, could you call the next item? >> the next item is the approval of the minutes of the august 6, 2013 on the commission on the environment reschedule meeting and in your package you have the august 6, 2013 draft minutes and this is it a discussion and action item. is there any discussion colleagues on minutes, if not could we get a motion to approve? >> commissioner wan? >> i move that we approve the minutes as provided. >> i second that. >> all right. before we call the question, is there any public comment on the minutes? >> seeing none, could i please get an aye for all of those in

favor of the approval of the minutes. >> aye. >> minutes are approved. and please hit the next item. >> public comment, members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commission's jurisdiction and are not on the ago ahead agenda. >> you are in position of a hard copy and an e-mail copy of a statement and an alliance known as the san francisco clean energy advocates and that is what we named ourselves are sent to you. and it was very important because as you know, the clean power sf is on hold right now, and we need to get it off of hold immediately. and that is what this letter is talking about, and it is from seirra club, and the local clean energy alliance, and the san francisco green party and our city and i just want to read it real quick. to the san francisco commission

on the environment, dear commissioners in the department of the environment staff, community advocates for clean power sf would like to thank you for your past leadership in making clear to city decision makers that san francisco greenhouse direction goals are not achievable without accomplishing a robust, clean power sf program with a strong local build out of clean energy and we further thank you for insisting that programs like clean power sf are built with union labor to the greatest extent possible and that all san francisco communities must economy and environmentally benefit from such programs, all communities. and it is the commission and the department of the environment that are more than any other agency. and at the cutting edge of clean energy installation, environmentally sustain able connection and green jobs policy in san francisco,

consistent with this history of leadership, we now call upon you to make a much stronger role in moving forward clean power sf. while, climates scientists are sounding the alarm that the planet is set to reach extremely dangerous tipping points such as the now unprecedented rapid polar ice melting, the san francisco public utilities commission has been unable and or unwilling to launch clean power sf in the nearly ten years since it was first given the mandate to do so. already, the department, excuse me, it is now imperative for an agency that prioritizes the value and objectives to take the reigns on it to succeed, that is the department of the environment and that is why you are named that. already, the department has

been instrumental in the installation of energy efficiency and other measures throughout tens of millions of square feet of building space all over san francisco and it is exactly that sort of an outstanding heads off on and hands-on leadership to engage the hundreds of mega watts and the energy, planned for clean car sf, commissioners, we strongly urge you to pass resolution, that takes a strong unambiguous position, and urges the board of supervisors between the local agency formation commission and the sf puc to move forward with the program immediately, while doing hard work, necessary to insure that both customer enrollment and robust, clean energy build out both begin by the spring of 2014. we ask you to collaborate with the board lafco to help them achieve these objectives which are crucial to our future and

the lafco is really key to this whole process and if you like to ask me about that, i can explain it. >> i think that we know. >> thank you. >> public comments? >> seeing none, thank you. next item >> out reach presentation on zero waste training for city employees, the speaker today is julie bryant, city government zero waste, senior coordinate and her this is informational and presentation and discussion. >> before we begin, commissioner king had a comment. so once again, it is time to talk about all of the wonderful things that we are doing in the department of environment for the city and county of san francisco. and knowing that there are so many people that actually watch this on television, i can't believe how many people walked up to me in my own building to say that they watched last commission meeting. i was like you must have

nothing better to do. and knowing that this is edutainment, you are not just talking to us but you are talking to the audience and so keep that in mind and thank you for your time in being here after 5:00. >> thank you. >> i am the city government coordinator at sf environment and i facility recycling compost and waste prevention and green waste. and donny asked me today to present the presentation that i give to my target audience to the employees. you are going to hear that. the agenda for today is that i am going to tell you about the

history of the waste programs including our legislation and goals around zero waste. why it is important to prevent waste and recycle and compost and how to have zero waste in your offices. and the laws in california around the waste started with 8939 this was a state wide goal that requires all municipality to generate 50 percent of the material that they generated from the landfill by the year 2000 and steep fines could be incurd for any that did not comply. san francisco surpassed the 50 percent goal, and wanted to expand the goal and aim higher. so the board of supervisors and the commission on the environment passed a 75 percent landfill deversion resolution by 2010. and a zero waste goal by 2020. and as you know, san francisco has the highest landfill deversion rate of any large city in the country and we

divert 50 percent of the material that we generate from the landfill and so that was great. and we are well known for the mandatory recycling law. and this requires everyone in san francisco and not just government, but residents and visitors to properly separate into recyclables and compost and trash and this really quicked up the composting. this is interesting, and this san francisco, deversion and disposal and generation between the years 1995 and 2010. and the most recent years that we have numbers for and if you look at the black line that chart's disposal and it is a very positive indicator of sustainability since 2000 and we have seen a reduction and in fact we have the lowest disposal rate in 30 years, the blue line charts deversion, of what we divert, recycle and reuse from the landfill is going up over time and also very positive. however, the most important

indicator of sustainability on this graph is the red line that charts total generation, and you can think of it as a combination of everything that you bring into your world not on where you put it at the end of its useful life. even though recycling is going up and disposables are going down, we see a general increase in generation and that means that we are buying more stuff and things that are more disposable and things with more packaging even though we saw a dip in the crisis we are seeing the generation go back up and we want to focus on reduce, reduce and recycling, and that the hierarchy and even though it is focused a lot on how to recycle and the most important thing that you can do for the environment is reduce. and that is just the tip of the waste berg. if you think of an iceberg, you only see a portion of it, the biggest portion is below the surface of the water. waste is similar, we only see a portion of what we generate. 70 pounds of material is

generated before it even gets into our hand that is upstream waste, in the mining process, the timber industry, and through manufacturing and transportation. and so when you don't buy one poupd of a product you don't generate 80 times, the 80 pounds of the weight of that product, reducing is very important. why zero waste? we conserve resources, save money, staoet has saved over a million dollars in disposal costs by recycling and composting. they are good for the economy and, we generate ten times more jobs in the recycling industry than we do in the disposal industry and climate change there is a lot of reasons why recycling helps the climate change but one of the important things is we reduce the methane from the landfills and they are number one source of methane and it is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. and so, how do you reduce and

reuse? well a lot of the employees are doing a good job and i know that it is hard with our lose it or use it budget mentality, but when you don't buy something that you don't need, yukon serve resource and save money for the city and so let's buy the products that we purchase every day in our jobs if we don't need to. also, we promote using things again and again, the products such as using your own dish ware at the party and bringing your own bag when you go to the farmer's market or brining the coffee cups when you get coffee, the virtual warehouse is on-line exchange and you can actually post unwanted usable items for use by other city departments so you can donate things for free for other departments to use and saves money and departments that need something can go to the virtual

warehouse first to see if there is a desk and a filing cabinet or a chair and they can get it for free by picking up those items from the donating department. >> so, what is recyclable in san francisco? well, bottle and cans, glass, colors, and even the lids alum um cans, and tin cans and even foil. people ask do i need to wash it? empty it out and give it a rinse, clean paper, and that is glossy paper and white paper and cardboard and things like phone books or envelopes even if there there is a window or a metal. plastics are confusing because there are a lot of plastics, don't look at the number any more, don't look for the symbol on the bottom of the container, ignore that altogether. the best way to know if it is recyclable is if it is not a

film such as a bag wrapper, you can actually recycle it. if it is a hard plastic such as a bolts or a tub or your plastic coffee lid put it in your blue bin, material is taken to pier 96 in san francisco and this is the recycle central where it is sorted into the different materials at the end of the day you get cleaned material that is bailed and ready to ship to a processor. the. and so what is compostable? all food, meat and eggs and they will bag and you will see those lining your containers in your offices and that makes it convenient for the custodian and make sure that they are certified. and foil, paper such as paper plates and tea bags and paper towels that is why we are composting in ourle your rest

rooms and the debris, but if you have a flower, some dead flowers ar a dead plant put that in the green bin. >> composting, all are sent to one of the three facilities that are owned and operated by our partner. and they manage the material in a high-tech way and at the end of the process, it is about a 60 day process and you get a beautiful, rich, organic fertilizer that is sold and it is a coveted product. >> what goes in the trash? >> not much, bags and wrappers, some departments are collecting clean plastic bags and taking them to the clearest participating grocery store or other retailers that are accepting plastic bags, if you don't have that program it should go in the trash.

dish ware, styrofoam and juice boxes and you will see it in a lot of forms if you see it in a block on the shovel and not in the fridge section it is a tetra pack it means that it has metal and plastic and paper and we don't have a way to separate those. >> all of the trash is hauled 70 miles away to the landfill. all the material that you put in your black trash bin goes to the landfill. and it stays there. we don't sort things for recycling or take out any of the composting at this point and when you throw something away that could have been recycled you are ending the useful lifetime of the natural resource it goes to the landfill and stays there and maybe just sits there, or it becomes a greenhouse gas or a ground water poe lunt ant and we can't use it and think about that every time that you are

discarding something and, that is it for my presentation, i hope that you learned a little bit and let me know if you have any questions. >> very well, done, thank you, julie. >> sure. >> colleagues? >> commissioner king? >> so, for those of you in the audience that would like to know about this information, you can always check out the department of environment website, at www.sfenvironment.org and for those of you that are listening and could access our social media, either our twitter account and let us know that you have seen this and like the presentation. so thank you very much for the presentation. and i am very happy, very happy and i think that the virtual thing and that is the coolest. >> thank you. >> it is great.

>> commissioner josefowitz. >> it is an interesting presentation. i was wondering how you measured or whether you measured how much was... or how many goods were exchanged by departments through the sort of free market place and i am not sure how you described it. >> yes. i am sorry, i don't remember the number right now. we actually measure, she does not want to be called on right now. so i (inaudible) is here who machines manages the warehouse. but the dollars saved, and we saved over a million dollars and we did this in our own office and we were able to donate almost everything that we did not need when we moved.

and items donated to us that we needed. >> commission wald. >> just to follow up on the exchange, you and commissioner josefowitz were having, do we publish these figures any place on like on our website and in a location that even a moderately able computer able individual could find? we submit an annual report, and it is sfenvironment.org, and it is there, i believe. >> i would like to encourage us to think about other sort of easier ways that we can make the remarkable success of this program and other programs at

the department more easily known residents of the city. so they know what value they are getting from the great work that you all do. but in other words, did not have the packet from the annual report. but you know, maybe then the rolling thingy on the face of the website that said, did you know last year, we... >> director? >> great idea, commissioners and one of the things that we have been talking about is having a sustainable metrics dashboard where it is not buried on the website but right on the front so that is a great idea and we would love the support from the commissioners that could make that happen but it is partly technical and partly communication's exercise and something that we have talked about. >> all right.

and then any comments from the public about this item and tonight's presentation. mr. brooks? >> i am eric brooks and it is spec tack lawyer to see that the department is doing the accident job of reducing the waste even though the volume is going up, and similar cases in cal where electricity is going up and we are kind of keeping the production flat by doing a lot of conservation but the department has gone beyond that lowered the waste and that was accident and there was one part of the presentation that needs more, and that is the part regarding recycling plastic. it is very important that the

public watching this understands that plastic recycling is largely ineffective. the previews on this is that over all plastic, only 5 percent of the plastic that you put in those bins gets recycled. and even the most recycled products which are kind of the pvc, coke bottles, ten percent or less of those get recycled the rest of that plastic material, much of it ends up in informally as the narrow developing countries overseas, and in the landfills because we don't have enough landfill space left in this country. it is important that the people know about that. plastic, the bonds in it break down every time that you recycle it, and so it is not recycling it is called down cycling, you start with a bottle and that becomes,

something like this jacket after five times you can't recycle it and then you end with a park bench and the best thing that you can do with plastic is not buy it in the first place, force yourself to buy glass, force yourself to buy metal and bring your own containers, and otherwise, once again, it is excellent to see what a great job the department is doing and if they could put some information about the realities of plastic on the website that would be great. thanks. >> any other comments from the public? >> thanks again julie. >> approval of resolution, 2013-11 commending the laborers local 265 city and county of san francisco gardener's apprenticeship program for the graduating the program's first class of community work and hers there is a document in the packet which is a draft

resolution and the sponsor is commissioner joshua arce. >> thank you, colleagues, you know, there was a meeting earlier in the year with some members from the public said, how do we know that the city's pesticide ordinance is being administered in a way that protects people and how do we know that the parks are maintained in a way that is safe that promosts sustainability. how do we know that our city workforce is properly trained to advance all of the goals that we have with respect to the department and open space and sustainability. and the answer is the kind and

participants in the program received both hands on training and in area of golden gate parks and other parks and facilities and spaces combined with ininstruction and plant identification and partnership with the city college of san francisco that lead to full time employment for the

graduates of the sustainable and living wage and benefit and also promotes implementation of the san francisco department of the environment and such as the council and safe guards for the city's families such as the departments reduced risk pesticide list and whereas on thursday, july 25, the program celebrated the first class of apprenticeship graduates and city departments announced the plans to extend the program going forward, and an opportunity to serve even more members of the community and forcing the potential for the environment and the environment now graduate and now, therefore be it resolved that the san francisco on the environment and come mend the labor union and the first class on this historic occasion and which the program continued success going forward.

>> okay. thank you very much. [ applause ] . >> courtney, john and others from 261. >> all right. >> thank you. >> i want to thank the commission for taking the time out of your busy schedule to acknowledge this program. and i want to be very brief and respectful of your time. and by just giving you a little bit of information about the program and about why we think that it is relevant to your mission. first it is really important for me to introduce the people that make the program work and that is not myself, teresa is a business representative and works, and the business manager of the labor 261 and she is really the muscle behind the public sector and i don't know is our coordinator and he is on the field and on the ground making sure that these people are signed up and doing what they need to do and taking care of the work to be done and also getting the currum