jobs, the new economy, these mandates that brought people together, not divided people. no, garbage police are not out there. the business community did not disappear. quite the contrary. what we have done is raise the bar for others. we have given people the sense that this could be done. more to the point, why should you care about this outside of san francisco? you should care deeply about this because again, it is those in urban centers that are consuming the vast majority of resources and then disposing them in your back yards in a landfill near you. unless we come up with creative ideas, we are going to be dumping all of our waste. these cities will be dumping their waist down the road from your playground, down the road from your park, so this is

something that all californians, all americans should be gravitating towards and enthusiastic about. the new paradigm of being able to deal with a very tangible thing that needs to be dealt with in an urban america in a way that creates jobs, creates wealth, and promotes the ultimate frame of environmental sensibility and environmental responsibility, reducing methane gas emissions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing the need to purchase and develop larger, more burdensome, more toxic landfills throughout the region, state, and the country, including on those will barges you see in other cities that just do not get this. i am proud of this. i want to thank the rest of the folks at recology the good work that was done by our

commission, and the partnerships that we formed. this is a true public-private partnership, and i'm thankful for all the hard working men and women at recology. thank you. [applause] >> hang you, mayor newsom, and thank you for helping us achieve our 77% landfill that version rate -- thank you, mayor newsom. we need to focus our attention on achieving 0 waste by 2020. to meet our goal, we will need the continued participation of all san franciscans in the mandatory composting and recycling program, making sure that everything possible goes into the blue and green bins, and as little as possible goes into the black. as the mayor pointed out, we sent the smallest amount of material to landfills since we have been keeping records. less than 15% the year before.

we are right on track, and if we keep up achieve 0 well in san francisco well before 2020. .9 waste in san francisco well before 2020. we already accomplished this lovely to a degree with bans on hard to recycle products like plastic bagszek]ñisr and a the. there are actions globally, but change does need to happen at the state and federal level, and that is why san francisco has been supporting extended producer responsibility legislation in sacramento and washington. taxpayers and local governments shell out millions of dollars every year to handle problem products. it is time that we require that manufacturers take responsibilityrw for their own actions and their products. when we hold corporations responsible for making sure the products they sell get recycled

properly and one public health and environmental costs are factored into that product price, manufacturers have a strong incentive to design goods that last longer, are easily recyclable, and ultimately are less toxic. we need to give a lot of credit to our partners at recology for the city's recycling success. we do not have a garbage company. we have a recycling company. so it is my distinct pleasure to introduce recology's ceo and san francisco's no. 1 ally in zero ways. mike. [applause] -- zero ways. mike. >> thank you, and thank you, mayor newsom, for using our site for this announcement. we are pleased to be the city's partner in helping achieve the goals that the city sets forth. some of them have been rather

exciting to try to accomplish, but it has been found, and we are going to ensure that this city isw6r;[ñhr the first to ace zero ways, and we are going to do it before 2020. there are a lot of exciting things going on, and we believe it is doable, and we are committed to making sure it happens. in the process, it has been pleasing for us to be able to put people to work doing a very necessary function. i want to introduce mimi chan, who came to us through the jobs now program and has been able to get to work doing something that we did not have the money to do before the programf5b gave us te work -- the money to do the work. >> i love this company. when i first started, i was really excited because i was working for a green company. when i leave,

just about work. i bring my work home. i teach my kids about recycling, composting, and when i go to another city, another state, it angers me to see people throw everything in the garbage. i tell them that they cannot do that.u we have think i'm crazy,' but when my - year-old steps in and says if you have to recycle and compost, they know that i am serious. i love my job. kvfutu3ñiññi have kids. i have kids, and it is just securing its future for my kids, my grandkids, and everybody down the line, and i thank you for the opportunity. >>ñ%iñkó we have 3000 to 5000 s come through here every year,y home and teach their parents how to do it right. as all these families are visiting other communities, it is amazing how many other places want to achieve what we're doing here, and wegqvúr?r think we arn a position to help them accomplish that. mayor newsom: interesting

anecdote. you will probably appreciate -- no, you probably will not, but i will throw it out anyway. [laughter] we've diverted about 8 million tons of waste, which is roughly twice the tonnage of the golden gate bridge. we only put about -- what? 600,000 tons into the landfill, which again, to put it in perspective -- just 200,000 tons last just in the second, so see how quickly we are moving to reach our goals? it is an extraordinary thing. what is equally extraordinary is the need to continue to promote these programs. we still have roughly 2/3 of what is here that still goes to landfills. that can be recycled, so we still have all this low hanging fruit -- literally, fruit --

that can be easily composted that is still being put to a landfill because we are not separating all of it. we have seen a 45% increase in composting. without being punitive, without being aggressive, just educating folks. being thoughtful, encouraging people, but again, we are still within the margin of where we could be if everyone again steps up to the plate. final point -- it is the kid that you go to the public schools, and you see these little kids. j6óçw3we fund salad bars in the schools, and you see kids with broccoli, and they may not have finished it, but at least they were not eating pizza and burritos, and then they run over and put it in a)e composting thing, and they find out that compost goes and creates something called soil, and that garrett -- they take some of that dirt that does not now valley and all those fancy

wine areas that look at this as liquid gold or -- what is it? what do you guys call it? black gold. i like that. you give a little back to the schools, and the schools take that and put it in their little garden outside, and then they actually learn about 7 there are no shortcuts in life, and the important lesson is that a lot of us have forgotten. these are important life lessons. all part of the edible schoolyard initiative and the educational component that ;>me2ci in a meaningful way, and kids, again, are leading the charge. that was my added anecdote. exactly. whatever. all right, come on back. >> thank you, everyone, for coming. we did want to thank mayor newsom for your leadership and

all the great staff at san francisco department of the environment. robert daly, kevin drew, the of the facility.

>> i work with the department of environment and we are recycling oil. thank you. we can go into a refinery and we can use it again. they do oil changes and sell it anyway, so now they know when a

ticket to a. hal>> to you have something you want to get rid of? >> why throw it away when you can reuse it? >> it can be filtered out and used for other products. >> [speaking spanish] >> it is going to be a good thing for us to take used motor oil from customers. we have a 75-gallon tank that we used and we have someone take it from here to recycle. >> so far, we have 35 people.

we have collected 78 gallons, if not more. these are other locations that you can go. it is absolutely free. you just need to have the location open. you are set to go.