SF Zero Waste Update: If You Know How to Sort, You Can Recycle Soft Plastics
Recology recently made a wonderful update to their San Francisco recycling program concerning those pesky soft (soft = crumples in your hand) plastics that end up everywhere.
Post image photo credit: Jedimentat44
Recology recently made a wonderful update to their San Francisco recycling program concerning those pesky soft (soft = crumples in your hand) plastics that end up everywhere.
If you know how to sort things (hint: you do), you can collect all your soft plastic bags and scraps into one plastic bag and toss it in your blue bin. Emphasis again on the sorting into one plastic bag, as the current behavior is to unconsciously toss everything into the blue bin.
(Help make the jobs of those who sort through your waste easier).The easiest way to do this is to just collect your soft plastics during the week into a single plastic bag you were planning on tossing out anyway (for example a grocery bag or chips bag).
I'm excited San Franciscans have a way to recycle soft plastic from the convenience from our homes. However, the reality is that this program is likely to fail horribly as it relies on people to pre-sort recycling into a single-stream bin they have been conditioned over decades to toss literally anything in. A well thought out campaign is necessary to re-educate residents on the new rules and that starts with the stickers placed directly on top of the recycling bins. Without these and other efforts, it is more likely this move will severely contaminate the entire recycling stream to the point the effective recycling rate drops.
P.S. here is a reminder to print these handy guides and place them near your waste bins inside your house:
https://sfenvironment.org/recycling-composting-and-landfill-signs