GreenAmy

My home city of San Francisco just passed the toughest recycling laws in the U.S., mandating that citizens recycle and compost or face fines of up to $1,000 for large businesses and multi-unit buildings. All residents will be given three bins: black for trash, blue for recycle and green for compost. The law empowers garbage collectors to leave reminder notices and eventually fines for people whose bins are not properly separated.

According to the New York Times, we San Franciscans already recycle and compost an impressive 72 percent of our waste, though our goal is zero waste by the year 2020.

There has been a lot of criticism of the new laws, saying it oversteps government boundaries and is too “Big Brother” in its approach to encouraging residents to recycle and compost. But naysayers said the same thing about sensible safety measures such as seat belt and bike helmet laws when they were first introduced. In my view, consumption and waste in the United States has reached such extreme levels, we should start thinking of it as a major health and safety issue, (even bigger than seat belts and helmets). We’re depleting our resources and over-filling our landfills. We need more far-reaching action to curb our impact. There’s absolutely no reason why people can’t throw coffee grinds in one bin and cans in another. And it only makes sense for local governments to step in and facilitate the kind of progress needed.

San Francisco also announced today the EcoFinder iPhone App, which helps residents locate places to dispose of and recycle various materials, including old electronics and furniture. Mayor Gavin Newsom calls “the open data philosophy behind the app… Government 2.0 at work.”

I applaud San Francisco for making big changes and going in bold new directions. Some people make fun of San Francisco’s progressive nature, but this kind of leadership and foresight makes me very proud of my city – and (since my building never had the green bins) I’m actually excited to compost!