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 curriculum covered at the city college of san francisco. and i am honored to be here and honored to represent 261 but i do have to admit that it was actually oscar before him that worked with the mayor, and ed lee at the time who was the head of dpw, and they put together the first public sector apprenticeship program and it was the first of its kind, a public, private partnership and we were able to capture a lot of local

residents and create these job opportunities for them. what i was able to do was simply, dot the eyes and cross the ts and so i am getting far too much credit but thank you, brother. >> it is important though, to this commission and to the mission of this department, because the gardeners are incredibly dedicated to the work that they do. and when we talk about the open space, and the green space and the playing fields and the trees and the golf courses and whatever it is. these are people who are giving their entire lives to the city and county of san francisco and also times, we focus on some negative stories or negative information that comes up. and it was our rank and file, and community union of brothers and sisters that urged us to move forward with this program and each though it starts at a lower wage rate, you don't see the organizations make the commitments but all current rank and file wanted the future to earn their positions and they wanted them to commit to education and wanted them to

commit to hard work and that where john comes in and insurances us and the citizens that we serve and these people are committed to hard work and committed to being knowledgeable about what is good about our city. we will represent mostly construction workers and build the buildings and sometimes we have a falling out with our friends in the environment and often times we find the common grountd and talking about the public sector workforce. i am proud of the people that we have been able to graduate and how we have been honest about the people who were not committed to doing the work for 30 years or so, and that was kind of the key, and earn these jobs and respect your duty and take care of this important business, my hope is that you will all take interest in this program moving forward that you will accept our invitation to come on down and that you will recognize that nikki, and teresa and romon and joan are

the people that really put this program together and unlike most of the other trades, women really find opportunities in gardening. and that is something that you don't hear from the labor unions in the building trades. that the woman are the muscle and i know it as well as anybody. >> i know it. >> and thank you so much, commissioners and so obviously, i am speaking in favor. >> thank you. >> and if i can maybe just say in furtherance of the idea of partnership, you know, we run olevera just came in through the environment now program which could be a program to maybe even partner with the apprenticeship graduates come in with a ray of still sets from our local communities and the environment and now program awareness of open space and are trying to be very successful in the partnership that the labors have with rec and park and the

different department and maybe we can talk about finding a home for graduates from the environment now to be in the next class and graduates of the program and we have a surprise for you, following the comments and any thoughts from colleagues? >> how can we find out more information about the program? is there like a website? >> that is a good question from commissioner wan. >> i know that on the rec and park website there is an array of information and application and john and maybe for the folks at home, if you are interested in applying to this outstanding program? >> you can visit us as sf261.blog spot. and you will, or you can go to the rec and park web page. sf261.blogspot. >>.com? >>.com. >> public comment on the

proposed commendation? >> mr. brooks? >> hi, eric brooks, san francisco, pride and local grassroots organization in the city to speak in strong up support of this motion of all of the building trade in this city and i think that you know the building trades and the environmentalists don't always get on the same page of that stuff, of all of the building trades in the city the limit is most often on the same page and willing to stick its neck out for environmental issues is local 261. and this is a great union, that often can be relied upon to step out and do the right thing on the environment. and i just want to add a little bit to the part of the resolution and i will comment on the part of the resolution,

or it is about forming a relationship with the local 261 and getting more work together with them because i try to say this politely rec and park and even though they made use of this program has not maximized the use of union labor in their programs and has sought at times to outsource instead of using all of these gardenerings and gardeners in training. and so we need to encourage that department to do better in that, and but even more, effective would be just to build the relationships with the department of the environment and help to get these folks to work yourselves. and so i was really glad to see that that was in their motion and in your resolution. and so once again, kutos to local 261, for partnering with the environmentalists at times and when we need them. and although, we want them to do more of that, of course. and strong support of your

resolution, thanks. >> mr. brian? >> switched it. >> james bryant from the april, institute, and western region director. i also commend the commission for moving forward and supporting the laborers as you all probably know is that these are the kind of programs that are established back in the days and absent those kind of, somebody looked over me and said what is seda? those were the programs who gave the opportunities to minorities and the people of color, that after the nixon days, so, let me just talk a little bit more and i will let

you know that i just left the port of san francisco meeting. and you know, there are also talking about how do we do a better job of, you know, finding, you know, workers that do things like, you know, take care of our wetlands, and you know, give an opportunity to to effect into the communities and what they actually came up with was, you know, here we have an opportunity and a workforce, because the laborers have stood out, and they have, you know, stood out, with the understanding that we are going to provide jobs, and entry jobs that give opportunity to folks, to have better lives. and be commissioned here would

be good to consider, you know, some sort of programs, somehow, and you are doing some of the new thinking that i hope will happen. and i think of how we can interject some of our folks into opportunities like in 91, 22 programs and stuff like that and so in keeping that in mind, i wanted to also thank the commission and, thanking melanie, for reading this department, and giving this department the direction that remembers that it is community first. and it is community second. >> and it is community last. and that is what the environment is all about thank you all. >> mr. bryant, any other public comments? >> commissioner stephenson? >> i am just wondering how many

graduates graduate thised year in the program? >> so the question was how many graduates from this first wave of graduates? >> we started with a class of ten and i would say, 8 from the first class, we have had 13 total and presently there are 16 apprentices at rec and part. and this is a fabulous program and everybody should be sort of commended for it. i was wondering if there was an opportunity to expand to this other trades that are around, sort of one could also the city could also partner with with

the local around other sort of building related activity. >> thank you for your question, commissioner. the apprenticeship, it is kind of standardized by the state department of relations and generally speaking, the construction trades, this situation was very unique because we were able with mayor newsome and lee to sign-off on the apprenticeship that never existed actually it does not recognize the journey level that we represent, they recognize a different kind, and one of the efforts that we are making is to have it recognized as especially because of the women that we represent, it is a legitimate trade position and it should have the same recognition that a carpenter has as a gardener and it is not

fair. and the others one in play, and this one we had to start out with the apprenticeship to get it going because it was unique. >> i don't want to start messing with the resolution, but should we add something to the resolution? >> no. >> we could, we could follow up with it. >> if it would be helpful >> maybe something to talk about in the policy committee. >> let's do it. >> and commissioner king. >> and so if i could just suggest a pathway forward. colleagues i just talked to our colleague, who had indicated that i suppose this might be something of a first and if there is a will and if we can get a motion to approve. i understand that we never had a photo with the commission and

the very nice certificate that monica has printed up and if the resolution is approved i will share another surprise in a moment. but could i get a motion to approve the resolution? >> colleagues, i think >> i motion. >> thank you. >> the second? >> i second. >> okay, all of those in favor signal by saying aye. >> aye. >> thank you. >> and earlier there was more hours left in the day, this morning, mayor ed lee declared garden er apprenticeship day. and to give you on the way to the meeting tonight and just a brief moment to have a photo with our friends. >> who is going to take the picture? >> do we still have the team? >> and does anybody have a... >> actually page is here. >> is page still here. >> yes. >> what do you think? >> everything. >> wasn't page here?

>> definitely.

>> congratulations. >> okay. all right. >> if you could call the next item. >> public hearing on green purchasing regulations and in your packet you have a copy of

the public hearing notice and green purchasing regulations for the director nutter and choy and the reduction specialist and this is a public hearing and information and discussion item. >> okay. >> commissioners, as i would like to request your consideration of the continuance of this item. there are a number of additional discussions that we would like to have at the staff level before we bring this to the commission for consideration. so i would like to respectfully request a continuance for this item tonight. >> thank you. >> commissioner king? >> a motion that we continue item number 7. >> i second that motion. >> let me state this correctly. let me to the discretion