constrelidebs removal and recov ordinance, which requires es tlition and take their mixed debris and send it to a registered facility. the reason that's so important, they are approved by us as being able to sort. so they sort as much as they can so that they minimize what goes tolandfill. hapning right now is there are some bad actors out there at construction and demolition sites that are sending their things to those facilities. they send them straight to landfill so the mixed debris is going straight to landfill, it's very heavy. ascribed to san francisco as our waste, and so our tons to disposal are going up dramatically because of those ba actors. and gets even worse because those landfills are not inclined to tell us who those bad actors are. they are protecting their customers. we managed to get a law passed lafills.tate to help us with the

turned out to not be nearly strong enough, so we are very much struggling with how to get that information and how to go after the bad actors. i'll come back to some of our solutions for this in a little nge ne fo'sve to do the right thing, if you thin about it, the large generators, they generate the most of all three streams and we need to focus our compliance efforts there. so, large generator is a large aparng,nt's a commercial operation, even things ehospitals, universities, hotels, shopping centers, just thinking about the complexity of their waste management and handling schemes, you can understand the challenghe but none the less60% of what they have in the black bin compactor shouldn't be there so we can do better and we need to do better with that. the and finally, that thorny issue of consumption patterns. i mentioned that the whole pie

is going up because san francisco is buying so muc more, so not only what is building in the green bins and the blue bins, but also in t black and that's becse of increases in consumption. so more recyclable, and trash. amazoneffect, everyone is familiar with the boxes coming in. ate, the cardboard we can handle and cha size of the blue bin, the problem is what's inside. whether it's a meal delivery kit or something with bubble wrap coming from or styrofoam peanuts from out of state, those meal delivery kits are the bane of our existence with the gel freezer,s styrofoam insulaandti a popular. so, fully two-thirds of our litter to cups and straws, so find ways to reduce what's

bought and purchased and increase reuse. so how are we addressing those challenges? those challenges are front and center in our thinking every da an we are working on them daily. so, one of thetems we doins we are buffing up our construction and demolition program. we are in the process of adopting new regulations. identifying the bad actors, working with other agencies who have similar problems with lalls nt disclosing information, so we are working very hard to incase the success of thatprogram. and we e to go on that. with recology, working on the city-wide recycling rollout, you will hear more about, i know you are both aware of it. the biggest change to the recycling program in 15 years, shrinking the black bin, expanding the blue bin, and making sure thate and more things can go in that blue bin by improving the facility at

recycle central, so it can handle film wrap, so it can handle juice boxes and cartons. we understand that even with all that o tre is behavior change challenges, so, we are upping our outreach and our technical assistance. we are using the money that we get from the garbage rates to do door to door outreach, to vido pro technical assistance on-site with large commercial as well as residential partners. and finally, the compliance. we have been saying please, we have been saying here is how for ten years, it's time now to ratchet things up and to say to e people whoave been ignoring us or being blissfully ign thet can no longer do that and so we are working very closely with recology to identify the problem properties,

help them improve, yes, offer them technical assistance, but also start to ratchet up on the compliance side with letters, notice vindon increases of charges for, to make it more expensive to do the wrong thing. so, the road map to 0. 0 waste is cle t right re commid to that asal done so much for the city and will continue to do so much for the city. so, the three key areas just to summarize this whole sort of big picture is we need to work with manufacturers to improve their products, they need to be recyclable, compostable, reusable. we need to make them reduce their waste upstream, and then we have to hold those producers accountable when there are things that we can't collect, so for example, ,ar we can'tthem, w ve a law that makes the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals pay to take them back. that kind of producer responsibility. we do it for paint. we need to expand those areas

where it does n make se for ation continues to increase, we are gng to need to change consumption habits, frankly, every city inhe world is struggling with this, trying to figure out howo do this. we understand one very elegant way of doing it is by mandating products or getting rid of single use products whenever possible when we know they are not necessary, when we know there is reusaacemts. h sts, let'sook to what ll do iw else is on the table next. is it cups, is it foodware? what is the next thing we can drive behavior change. and finally, maximizing recovery. mhat t.at tunnel road where we are collecting our green wastes alhet, d thatlly o recology. they are focussed very closely on making sure that they have e infrastructure needed. it's also making sure fromur

work that we have the best source separation. with the best source operation, we have highest and best use. they are all linked. so san francisco, as supervisor safai said, is considered to be best in class and we should not forget that. while we push ourself and say it's not enough, we should not forget we have the best in class program. that disposal, that hockey k at stick, we can't rest on our laurels. we are not done. we have a long way to go. and we'll do it in partnership with you, with t board of superv, wrs work with us on this legislation, with the mayor w , a ioritizes thiind of work. we need to increase recovery and we need to overcome complacency. that i our challenge. and we do this with our commission as well, our commission is really well placed to have the deeper dive with the public, to have that kind of

engagement, problem solving. and it is our intention and hope to come back to the commission and say all right, you guys set the 2020 goal. let's do a deeper dive with our colleagun the public, and let's figure out what is that metric that we can use w since are not using diversion anymore, because diversion in 2006 went out, the state of california said it's not a good metric. but toandfill is not for the person on the street. we are looking forward to the, in this year, 2018, to be the year of that deep dive with our commission. so in closing, as i intimated before, the department of the environment does not do this alone. we do this with partners. it is a collective effort and it's going to take all of us and the success depends on all of us. depends on you asking questions, you being engaged, you holding us all accountable and you challenging us to do more. we also collaborate very closely

with other city departments, the department of public health and public works are our partners every step of the way. and of cour, one of our key partners is recology. and now i would like to introduce john porter. [please stand by, captioning change].

>> supervisor safai: so you talks about pols, about law, you talked about behavior, but i want you to talk about what the role t folks that do the work play. what role does that play in terms of how we have achieved what we have achved and how can we do better? >> thank you for bringing up the important role of how do we get things in the right bin becauseometimes we get things in the right bin jt because a person does theig thing? but those s, they stay in place. and if it isn't for o

janitors, our custodians, teams, this wouldn get to the right bins atall. if we don't have the janitors on board, if they are not part of our partnership, there is no progr that is the case if you look at some of the really successful places liket&there w they have incredible staff who parlect what is generated in buten also work with it afterwards, whether theye sorting it or just making st i gets in the right bin, our janitors are key partners. they're our ueero waste champions. they're part of the process, yo't hone success. >> supervisor safai: right. an wll have recology talk about this too, but we have facilities in the city of san ci you tal aboutcnhere they're doing demolition.

you have people actually doing that work, sorting along with the machines. but also in t facilities that we have in san francisco that are actually doing sorting as well that recology has, so can you talk a little bit about that? >> so details on what happ at a registered facility, i would ask some of my colleagues to do. a brought scale what that means because do other cities in the united states have a workforce that's dedicated to actual doing sorting? that's what i'm talking outab >> california's a pret e. i to call it the bubble inside thebb san francisco is the bubble inside the bubble which is the bay area. iz sta they to makeue them goes in one pile, the usable wood goes in

another. it's critical work to take a mixed load and make it into something i: aith ur composting, we also have those facilities, as well, the people that are doing that work. >> i'm sorry. >> supervisor safai: people that are also doing the work of recycling and composting, we hose bins in . >> if you go to pier and you look a recycle ntral we can only automate so much. it's people working mak sure what'somutn the s, to markets uality acceptablo abroad. >> supervisor safai: that's nge that's interesting to me isave a little bit of k o thge i because i was part of writing the mandatory and recycling ordinance. when we got the first draf from mayor'sff at the time, n-ocument or reference in a

cu-pag referee to the word there s no conveuti e t t are actually doing the work. so after that, the team cen andhenvited to the table, so i think along with others, we ended up with a really well craftediece of lehat ats ul.th we can come back to that later, that, bn talking some holes in about howe can tighten that up. ervisor safai: okay. we'dke to call up john porter recogy.

you have to ask him. i'm sorry. do you want to use this? >> yeah, sure. i'm sorry. i thought it was going to be loaded on there. >> supervisor safai: it's okay. >> that should work. >> supervisor safai: you got it? >> no -- >> supervisor safai: okay. i think that's the same version. >>hopefully, yeah. sent it yesterday, just a small change -- perfect. it'll do. wish it wasn't on paper. there would be zero waste. >> supervisor safai: please proceed. >> all right. good morn ly a reciate the opportunity to talk about this

really important topic. supervisor safai, i'm glad to hear you're so passionate about this. i'm ln fward sring with you the details that you asked for about, kind of what we're doing to help get to zero waste and what challenges we currently face and what are our opportunities currently a su that slide that director rafael shared with you about disposal, that's primarily related to the citywide disposal. this graph that you'll see here today show t that recology is touching. and as you can see, the compost and recycling participation is matching the population growth getting moreso residents into the city, as more people are moving here, the participation rate is continuing to grow. and that disposal number, director rafael's correct.

it is flat lining. it isn' w we'like to see it. we'd like to see it going down. i'm going to talk in a minute about what we're doing in order to improve that result and as you mentioned, kind of t first or the largest role that we've had in over 15 years since we rolled out the three streams and the expansion of the commodities, and we're actually alread seeing some assi part of that. so the new program, as you're familiar, is a new single-family home program where previously, the standard was 32 gal-ns trash, 32 s re cling, 32 gallons composting. we are now moving to that as standard. this moves all single-family residential homes to 85% diversion. we still understand there is

the need f a trash bin as there are some difficult to handle materials such as diapers, animal waste, styrofoam, and those types of items. we've actually expanded the commodities that we're accepting: textiles, for example, we would prefer it go to reuse somewhere like a goodwill or st. vincent de-paul. film and small plastic bag as andetal can know go in the recycling bin, so really narrowing what's going into the trasnd expanding recycling. we're seeing tremendous response from our customers. 78% of customers are accepting the new system, the new 16-gallon trash. and the loads that we're receiving in

actually cer tha they've been before. partnering with the department or s.f. environment, we have a large outreach program, restickering every single container and bin in the city, providing new signage, and outreach material that every customer's receiving three touches to educate them on the new commodities, the new program, and how little should actually be sent into the trash bin. we can stay here for a minute. also, in order to prepare for that, we made a $14.7lion upgrade t pieur 96 central recycle facility, and that equipment has enabled us to accept filse plastic materials. we have a suction system where our employee owners, teamsters 96 are take those pieces of film plastic and place them into a suction conveyance system. we've also got new magnetic belts and other items that help

us accept those different commodities. ande're currently planning as part of one of the challenges that i'll discuss with you today, additional improvements to that facility to address the cris that we're facing with, you know, national sort in china. we'll give them a minute to -- r safaust jeep doing this. going until they pull it up, please. >> okay. and also, in terms you know, our challenges, as director rafael mentioned, multifamily buildings are a real challenge. san franciscans come here from all over the world, and they're noiarsit our programs, and we need to do as good of a job possible on educating them on our programs because, you know, when they come from other places as debbie -- director rafael mentioned, they might not have as a strong recycling and composting program. they may th n r same

amount of commodities that we accept in san francisco, so that's something that we need to focus on and get those apartment dwelling residents of san francisco engaged and knowledge of how we ---informed of how we work in san francisco. we're building a new refuse transformation station in san francisco. it's going to expand the facility for increased participation, so as san francisco grows, we get more people, we're going t needo accept more organics tonnage. additionally, our facility was never intend today have the amount of throughput that goes through that facility, so this is going to make a safer and fore efficient work environment our employee owners, and we're really excited about kind of moving forward and kind of expand the organics

participation. next slide. so in terms of talking about challenges, director rafael mentioned construction demolition. about 1 is 00,000 tons of disposal in san francisco are not touched by recology. there isn't a lot of transparency about where the source of that material is but as we've seen this construction boom over the last eight years, you know, a significant volume of the material that's used in construction ends up in landfill. most of this material is metals, wood, drywall, you know, gypsum, all things that can be reused and repurposes, so we are looking to improve or c and d facility, our currently c and d cility. we have plans over the next

several years to construct a new facility. that'll increase our throughput by 40% and recovery by 50%, so that's a huge opportunity for us. next slide. and then lastly, you may have seen this, the wall street jourl had coverage on this last week. you know, it continues to get attention across the united states. china has as of this mth completely cutoff all import of recycled materials. we fortunately in san francisco have a great team of employees that have enabled us to continue to bring that material elsewhere. our material's in high demand, so we haven't negatively been impacted in san francisco by volume -- so ng.i we're able to move that volume to other jurisdictions and places, but this kind of creates a larger issue for the industry as a whole. and i thinkfortunately, we've

always been a good actor. some bad a maybe weren't processing material already included far too much contamination in the recyclablest they were seg to china. we neeo kof increase the education of our customers as well as improve, you know, the facility that we have in order to meet this new chinese specification of.5 recycled paper. this has kind of resulted in an oversupply of recycled materials going to other places and decreased the price that we receive from about $120 a ton for paper to about $8. >> supervisor ronen: why don't we have the capacity in the united states to process recyclable materials? why are we sending it to china? >> that's a great question. you know, i think that first of all, these facilities are very capital intensive, and they -- because people aren't

sending them clean material, they're very dirty. and i think the united states, they saw a transition away from that processing here. there are some, you know, mils still in thed niates and actually companies are now reinvesting it as a result of this, you know, change, but this transition has happened over the last 30 years and has kind of now, we've got caught unepared for it. we, you know, had been shipping this off to china, and we didn't have the infrastructure inhe united states. i would love to be able to send all this material, keep it in the united states. i think that makes the most sense, but it is, yeah. >> supervisor safai: are you done with your presentation? >> yeah. >> supervisor safai: so i'm going to ask director rafael and you both to answer this same question. >> sure. >> supervisor safai --: so not -- again, not to be corny, but low hanging fruit, right? of hat we send -- you can co back up, ditor rafael.

60% of what we're sending to landfills is compostable and recyclable. so what can we do? what ahe -- some of the simple steps that we can do to capture that? i -- i'd like to hear you both answer that. >> okay. great. so i guess the first step is, you know, there's an opportunity for processing this material. getting our customers educated as to what we can accept. now that our confideustomers k that they can put film plastic, they've got larger recycling bins that they can put the card board in. you look at our refuse transfer station, it's a lot of card board. we just need to give our customers the right side card board to get to the right place. >> supervisor safai: when it goes to you, someone's doing the work. >> if it gets in the right container. >> supervisor safai: if it

gets to the right place, someone's grabbing the plastic film that you told us about, they're sorting it, pulling it out, putting it in a machine. r safai: you're saying if we send you more, you can do more work. >> correct. >> supervisor safai: okay. director rafael? >> obviously, there's going to be multiple answers. low hanging fruit, that's a tough one because we've been working on this for ten years. >> supervisor safai: i was trying to be funny. >> oh, that's the pun part. >> supervisor safai: 60% -- maybe ihod havead coffee for everybody. >> no, that was me. >> supervisor safai: so the 60% of what we're sending to landfill is either recycleable or compostable. that seems to be the low hanging fruit. what can we do to cnge the behavior? you said large buildings are large generators of waste. are they doing what they need today do?

i've got calls of complaints, why are they making our trash bins so small? it's really about sorting and doing the right thing, so that's what i want to hear you talk about. >> i want to share with you a survey weid recently jus to give you a sense of the challenge of the problem because clearly, the solution is 99% of people have access to doing the right thing, so why aren't they doing the right thing? we can -- there's two sort of directions on that. we can get better at making them do the right thing, or we can take care of it afterwards, so those are the two rtunies. and then, there's a third opportunity of taking care of that black bin somehow at recology. as you -- >> supervisor safai: that's what i'm talking about. >> yeah, so you've got three insertion points. the insertion point of the individual behavior change, which is the place that our

department spends most of its energy on, we do that through technical assistance by making sure people understand, have the right signs, have the bins in the right place. that is going on in a huge fashion right now. it's going on in multifamily. the challenge we have is we did a survey of a certain part of the population in san francisco, and we said, do you know why you should recycle. off the charts, they knew. do you know how to recycle? do you know what goes in each bin? absolutely. they could name everything that goes in each bin. do you recycle? do you sort? no. okay. why don't you do it? because it's too much trouble. it's just too much work. so here, we have system with the ultimate convenience, right? we've got -- everybody's got the bins. we have signs sh yo we have outreach campaigns, and they still don't want to do it because it's still not convenient enough, whatever that culture of convenience is here, we're up against it big way. so what we're looking at,

how -- but we can't give upn that, it's -- all these things are an "an," not an "off." beca we' never get it all if we rely on those two other things. we keep doing that even though we're up against people's complaceancecy. i look @and the park, commercial hels tav commercial sorters that come and sort for people. they can't do sorting if there isn't good enough sorting, but they can do enough to get over the hump and get tremendous rates of recovery. >> supervisor safai: we know -- the three of us and others in the room, know what -- let's just make it real simple. so if i take my banana peel,

and i take my soiled hamburger wrapper, and i put that in the black bin at any house or at my office, that's what we're talkuting aere thth 60%. >> that's exactly what we're talking about. >> supervisor safai: because when recology comes and picks it up in the black stream, no one's looking in that black stream. at in that black stream j going to landfill, is that right? >> at this point, that is correct. >> supervisor safai: unless i put a hands in the trash and do my own sorting, but break that down, there are janitors in at&t park and these hotels that do this work. >> and they need room. that's part of the challenges. if they're going to sort, they're going to need to have the tables, they're going to need to have the ability to sort so they can make sure what

needs to happen is going in the >> supervisor safai: so if we did that in a more shape or form on a more expanded basis, we have the potential of get 60% more of what's going to landfills. >> we certainly have the opportunity to make a big impact on that number. >> supervisor safai: and then what about that black stream, recology, when that black stream comes to your facility, does anybodyatk that. >> well, again, that's a complicated answer. technology, we had an extrusion press which is actually -- >> supervisor safai: what did? n orex extrusion press. >> supervisor safai: i was about to say bless you. i didn't know what yousaid. >> it's a machine that basically crushes the garbage and gets all the material out of it. you had a banana peel, you threw it away.

we had a perfectly of machinery that crushed the trash -- we're constantly looking at other technologies. the composting program has such high participation, we weren't getting the -- you know,he material out of the machine. it was too dry. >> supervisor safai: but why don't you? i know in other municipalities, they have one stream and then they do all the sorting and recycling. i know they do that in other parts of the united states. stam, open it up, put t it on a conveyor belt and start picking out theapeels. >> i will tell you why. i love this question. debbie -- director rafael mentioned it earlier. you throw your banana peel and your orange, and you throw it in your card board, your paper. that banana gets on the paper, that orange gets on the card board. those materials no longer have

value. china has strong import restrictions. they've actually cut it off for the month of may and june. that material gets ruined. yoht insh with your animal waste, baby waste, it gets ruined. >> supervisor safai: that gets ruined, but there has to be 60%. >> those facilities, what we call it is dirty murph, they're only getting about 80% of the crv value. those facilities are not a panacea. the best way we believe is to separate the material at the the highesnd bt use, whiit has y man cases either reuse or recycleability. >> supervisor safai: so when you say at thesource, you mean in the commercial building. >> sure.

>> supervisor safai: in the home. those are tynl two choices other than the construction site. so there's no problem in taking the black stream when it gets to you and sorting through that? >> in our long-term plan, weo an o pl having a facili that we believe will work beogy the goal is to get all the material going in the right place. as you're pointing out, that solves 60% of thoble. in theture, once we shrink that trash can and the participation rate grows, we are going to look into a trash processing facility. those -- we're having a disconith a compa europe todaybout enzymatic processing, whether we can put an enzyme into material and turning them into natural gas. that consumes a lot of energy le athe see it go in the

recycling bin or the compost bin. >> supervisor safai: now you said you have plans to create and expand facilities to do more processing. >> correct. >> supervisor safai: so that also means more work for us, re people there actually on the ground as director rafael referred to. >> yeah. really depends -- those facilities have not been designed yet. as of right now, the workforce, if we were to go on a trash processing, i believe we would definitely need more people than what you have today. >> supervisor safai: so i know i've dominated the questions. do you have more -- i know i have a lot, but i wanted to give you the opportunity. >> supervisor ronen: you keep going with yourue i have a bunch of comments. >> supervisor safai: going back to the c and d, you talked about creating a new facility for that. sounds like if i demomy house, and get one of those big

bin i've seen them all over the city, i'm not required to send it to a c and d. >>hether it's happenin >> supervisor safai: well, it sounds like it's not, given there's these facilities that won't tell us, but we're being penalized or it's going against our number. >> we know it's happening. >> i wanted her to answer it. >> supervisor safai: are they competitors? >> no. that's a polish. we're worried about what material we receive. >> supervisor safai: okay. so what about where we're sending our -- our landfill? we have an agreement with a landfill company, a landfill facility, and what's that? how long do we have that, and will that run out at some believe there's eight years remaining on the current

landfill agreement? >> we just -- one of the first things that happened when i started is our landfill agreement expired and we star ae one. i think they are eight years. 7.5. 7.5 ars.ye >> supervisor safai: there's also a cost associated with that. there's a significant cost because landfills are few and far between in the area. land is much more valuable to do things with than to send trash to, so what does that mean in the context of this conversation? so what's the name of our landfill? >> hay road landfill. >> supervisor safai: hay road. and what happened to that after 7.5 years? >> we have the ability to renegotiate the contract, is my understanding. >> supervisor safai: is that the only one that we use in san francisco? >> that's correct. w is that?sor safai: a y. an aou can awe because it's owned and operated by recology.

>> supervisor safai: oh, it is? >> yeah. >> supervisor safai: that makes it easier. >> it doesn't make it easier. rather not go there. >> supervisor safai: it makes it easier to negotiate. >> no, that is not how it happens. yeah, yeah. the landfill contract was competitively bid. >> supervisor safai: i'm sorry. >> for the record, there was a very, very -- >> supervisor safai: no, but it's nice that recology owns the landfill. >> supervisor ronen: can i understand this a little bit more, when you say 7.5 years, you mean that's the contract. >> on the contract. >> supervisor ronen: but eventually, the landfill fills up. how does that work? >> that's a great question. unfortunat a lotf these landfills were permitted a long time ago, and the capacities that they were permitted well exceeded the need at that time. also, composting and recycling were pervasive, so there is a significant amount of landfill capacity left. >> supervisor ronen: how many years. >> last time i checked?

>> supervisor safai: san francisco has one piece of that landfill. it's almost like a cemetery. we have ot. other places have plots, so if we want to buy up more plots, we have to reate.neti >> yes. >> b to your point, landfill space, because we've be doing such a good job of generating less and others have as well, it's not the economic driver anymore. it's not the best use of that yend and of that material, . ervi>>upr safai: okay. that's a whole other conversation. ante i t beca i s of the goal for zero waste. it was part of the cost to the city. i know that every municipality has to consider where we send our waste, and there is a cost associated and at some point, that will run out, right, and then, we have to find new places. >> well, and the state has put a ban on organics going to land ll. supersor ronen: you know,

just listening to all of this, it just seems like we should have been in the enforcement compliance phase a while ago. i studied i was in llege. i studied in england, and i went home to germany, and they dro waste in 1997. d -- nothingo the landfill. they washed every piece of garbage, and they sorted it out correctly, and that was what and if it's true, we just need a behavior change. comments tha te couple of volunteer my daughter's classroom, public school in san francisco. it's t.k., so these are all five year olds every week, and theyste tt's ovided by the school, and they compost and recycle, and the kids learn and get used to

sorting their trash on their own and taking the extra time to do so. so that training behavioral change is reaimportant. i hope we're doing that in all school. >> every school. >> supervisor ronen: okay. fantastic. that's great that she's learning that. so she mimic that atme, th, i weegreat -- i have to dot out for green streets, which started in my district and is an amazing program that specifically works in public housing facilities and really works on education and behavioral change. i think we need that. i think we need more of those intensive training both for, you know, kids and in big, large complexes where that habit isn't formed. but then, i think we need compliance at this point. if we are -- if our curve is going in the wrong direction, and people say they know why it's important, and they say they know how to do it, but they're just not taking the time, well, they need to take the time.

and it's time now. we've been very genous in our education, and if that's what's truly been causing the problem, then we have to do that. i don't have much faith in president trump or his administration certainly on environmental issues, but the fact that we're sending our trash to china so defeats the environmental purposes of properly disposing and reusing. >> let's be clear, tsh -- the trash -- >> supervisor ronen: the energy that it takes to transport it, it's absurd. and then, you know, the other thing is i was surpro t learn -- i learned this quite recently -- the amount o methane that is released from lands and the impact on climate change and our environment. i don't think that is as well known in terms of why is so important specifically to

then, whatcom posting does to take methane out of the atmosphere, right? the double -- the double sort of bad part of it, and then, the positive effect you can have with composting. i do think we need to have a better education campaign about that aspect of our zero waste goals because we are a city that very much compares about climate change, probably have more electric vehicles than -- than other cities, but yet we're still sending 30% of what should be composted to the landfill. we need to do more education on that part. but i really -- you know, the last thing i would say is, you know, in terms of the big business, more commercial side of the waste, i think the local 287 did do the walk in my shoes night, and part of my job i did

that night was separating the waste which was an amazing experience and very hard and veryye opening. but what i -- what i likebout a t work m aing s all of the waste isroperly disposed. but we are sending a message to the people upstairs that are the workers during the day that they don't have to do that separating, and i think that's the wrong mess annual. so relooking at how, you know, these lead certified businesses are doing that, i don't know, some preg ansointhen extra look at it is important. i appreciate thatuper ssor safai held this hearing. tty outrageous that 60% of what's still going to the landfill is recycling and compostingfter evingtholog and

the department of the environment has been doing, and i think it's time to step it up. >> supervisor safai: okay. before we take public comment, i just want to thank you guys for all the hard work in preparing this presentation and putting these thoughtful answers together. i think that it sounds like we have some real opportunities to in terms of enforcement, in terms of looking at some of the large generators, in terms of looking at changing people's behavior and education, and also thinking about expanded workforce opportunities to expa the ability toeo nd composting. before we take public comment, supervisor yee has joined us, and he'd like to ask a few questions, i guess -- or make a comment. >> supervisor yee: i just want to make a comment, and thank you for having this hearing. as i was listening toward the tail end of this, education is a big piece of how we can be successful, and i actually have a resolution, piece of legislation mov frd to urgee school district and

hopefully our departments to work in partnership to reeducate our students because we do an okay job at the elementary school level, the younger kids. and by the time they get high school, by youth commissioner for district seven tells me that most of the high school kidsd to what tlrned, and we need to reinforce it. so hopefully, that's something we can look at more seriously. >> supervisor safai: great. so like to open it up for ic blmment. anyone that wishes to publicly comment on this item, please come forward. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is john bouchard. m ti' secretary and treasurer of teamsters local 250. we perform the sorting and represent all the drivers that

llectma. and i'd like to echo a couple of points that ms. rafael and mr. porter made particularly in regards t t and d collection and where it's being dumped i think it's important that the materials being picked up is regulated in a fashion that we know where it's going, and it has been a big problem. there are a lot of bad players out there who are taking this de of francio, and i think it would be beneficial for all involved for the city to consider an ordinance that require any c and d being generated in san francisco -- [inaudible] >> supervisor safai: i'll ask you a couple questions. just frouro perspective, how does it affect the workers because your time is up, but we

should probably add a few seconds. how does it affect the workforce? >> well, the workforce is not being afforded the opportunity to get their hands on the material. obviously, we cannot sort the material that's coming before our workers, so i think it's important for -- to be able to have control over what's being sorted and recycled and what's not. it has to come before the sorters, and i think it should gbe to oility because then, we haveomntrolr sorted. >> supervisor safai: and particularly, the work that you guys are doing out in the pier, right, that's one of the larger operations. how many people are doing that work right now? >> we have abo at pier 96. >> supervisor safai: and they're doing solely the recycling, the blue stream? >> correct. >> supervisor safai: and what exactly the work entails? >> yeah, they pull material out that's not recyclable.

they bail them, get them ready for shipment. >> supervisor safai: are you dotion the fi doing the film plastic now, as well? >> i think that's a question for mr. porter. someone noding t he and see giving a thumbs up. >> this is one area that i probably disagreth mr. porter is the stuff that's coming theinlack stream, you know, i don't agree that that entire load is at that point, i do think it's useful to go through that material. you know, other facilities do that,n if you pull -- >> supervisor safai: i facilities in the area? >> i know the area where i come, south san francisco -- >> supervisor safai: so they actually put the waste from the black sream out on a belt, and they'll pull out a significant amount -- >> yeah, they have a commercial belt that does that. and they also floor

sort. >> supervisor safai: say that again. >> they also have a floor sort. >> supervisor safai: so they dump it out on the floor? >> right, or the company trucks come in, they dump it on the floor, and they go through it before it hits the recycling lines. >> supervisor safai: it seems to make sense to me that if there's 60% in that stream from what we've been told today, 60% of that could either be compostable or recycleable, it seems to me you could get a significant amount of that or an opportunity to divert a lot of that away from -- >> and some of that material, as mr. porter std, may be contaminated, but if you can even pull 5% of material out of that one black bag that's recyclable, that's useful, and bs natl sort is a real problem, it's important for recycling to be cleaner than ever, and i -- right now, ourbe are doing the best

they can. but i think to more efficiently sort this material, i think it's important that you have more eyes and hands on the material. i don't believe that technology is the answer there. i believe that worker -- you knowuman worke you have to be able to get your hands on this material and sort it. i think thas important. and that might call for expanded facilities. i know they're -- the c and d facility is being expanded, but it might be time to look at expanding, you know, the recycling facilities, pier 96, for example. any time you go there, there's recyclables up to the door waiting to -- that are dumped and waiting to be sorted. to get through that, you need more workers. to accommodate more workers, you're probably going to need expanded facilities. >> supervisor safai: ok ank yo. bouchar >> thank you. >> supervisor safai: any other members ofl p wish to

ke a comment? i see one person. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for having this hearing. i wanted to be able to bring up these bins that you guys see throughout city hall and your first star l s. discussingistion leg in 2008, treas no reference to the workers that actually were doi the work, both at that time, recology. at that time my mentor bob morales was sitting at the table. i wanted to be able to show you because for us, it was a lot of work that all of these -- our janitor janitors had to bend under the next, not once, but twice to be ableget bh of these. i wanted to say when it first powere byhe legislation, lt

usecat gave them an opportunity to tell tenants you're not recycling in the right streams. after the honeymoon peri it turned into disciplinary action -- >> supervisor safai: you allow her to keep speaking, please. >> -- doing their portion of recycling. achieving zero waste is going to f t if. ifomeoers in san francisco and as you eloquently put it, a lot of our children we've seen grow up in the public schools in san francisco, if they can do it, i don't see why the tenants that are working there 9:00 to 5:00 consider themselves too -- don't want to be bothered with having to do that part when our janitors have pointed it out, they're disciplined because there's been contamination between the streams, and our members are the ones being told you're not doing your job when in fact it's supposed to be the whole building, including the owners that have to buy into this

culture. if the tenants and homeowners understand it takes a village, i don't know why the tenants in the buildings -- the office buildings and tes don't understand it's goingo take anyone. if you can picture a homeowner who's recycling in the proper streams, can you picture a worker sorting through 1.5 million pounds of trash in sevenhours. i see the shirts they wear, the luncheons the, but the i hobe is the n recognion for the a jators and teamsters that are actually doing the hard work, which is absolutely important as part of this let's save the earth. and itoe't mean that you giving yourself le certification, a platinum, a diamond lead certification means that you're a clean building. it means that the workers are doing the job for you to get

there. and the problem i have with that is there's no amount of certificates that are going to make a building really clean if they're not doing their part. and it's a culture that frankly, everyone understands 2020 is coming around, and if we don't get to that level, that's the problem we're going to have. in buildings that there are sorters, we have a much better success rate to meet some of those standards. not at we' doing a lot better in those buildings where there's ss in house at those buildings. and i would like to ask the department of environment that they show us the numbers by telling us how many building owners have been find, how many do they just cut a check, and not going to brin in the i people to do the sorting? homany of them are not meeting the standards that the city placed on us back i 2009? and finally for us as the it's not an easy job, being

ab t 2, 300 times a night just on one floor. it doesn't include the amount of work additionally that they have to do. but in order to be relevant, in order to be able to meet the and leave an earth that our children can be proud of, that we can all inherit, it's going to take an effor -- theis no arrogance here. this is just are you being a responsible building owner? you being a responsible tenant? are you being a responsible resident, homeowner? er an t.k. and first grade that are being taught that it's a culture that hao and it's not just up to just the janito and the sorters and recology from 350 so i really implore you and appreciate this hearing today, and i hope something comesou .

thank yo you.upervisor safai: than i was going to ask a few more questions, but you answered all my questions. >> supervisor ronen: director safai, i just wanted to comment on that i made some comments already. firs of all, i have to say supervisor d a nig in the ashoe janitor wasne o of t profound things i did during the campaig thank you for that. that opportunity and forced that opportunity on every time i sor te trash.f first of all, your members were incredible, the knowledge and the support that they gave me in doing it was just do butwa i mean, the fa t the workers upstairs couldn't, you know, do that first sort and

then the janitors provide a check to that or, you know, correct things that were missed was ridiculous and insulting. and the fact that they get the lead certificate on t backs of the j thaanitoare dng this work was -- w eye opening for me, and i just -- i just -- i had already made so comms, just wanted to acknowledge and underscore your points because as someone who had that experience firsthand, it's just -- the points you're making are incredibly important and i hope we're taking those and making sure that we're -- whether we have to pass ole force it or, you know, fine or go have talks with those buildings, that culture needs to change, and it needs to change yesterday. so thank you. thank you for your testimony. >> supervisor safai: and i would say, director rafait would be really interesting to know based on that 60% number of what 30% compost, 30% recycleable that could go to -- that's going in our waste stream, how much of th

co f generators? how much of istctually mp said, at&t park, ilding? embarcadero, the ferry building, some of these places that actually have people, you know, sos, js doing the w on-site have a significant impact of terms of how much're diverting versus buildings that don't. >> i would just that you al look is a bigger pictur of ilding owners. so for examl himes has 555 california. they can be able to h i'm sorry. boston properties and embarcadnlyero, tave one buildinghat's sorting or over himes building on mission and 2nd street is only -- out of their 28 buildings, they're only recycling at one. they only have oneorteat one of their 28 buildings, and