To keep up with the uptick in packaging materials, Recology has proposed a 14 percent increase in the city’s garbage rates in July.

Waste360 Staff, Staff

May 25, 2017

1 Min Read
Spike in Packaging Materials Sparks Proposed Increase in San Francisco Garbage Bills

In San Francisco, and many other cities across the nation, citizens are turning to the Internet for food, clothing and other necessities. This shift to online shopping is causing the amount of packaging and cardboard being recycled to increase, putting more pressure on recyclers to handle the uptick in materials.

To keep up with the rise in materials, Recology has proposed a 14 percent increase in the city’s garbage rates in July. The proposed increase has approval from Public Works and residents have until Tuesday to appeal the increase before it’s finalized.

San Francisco Chronicle has more details:

San Francisco prides itself on being ecology-minded, having outlawed everything from plastic bags to foam meat trays. But those lofty environmental ideals are going up against a culture that’s increasingly focused on convenience.

Many city dwellers have little time to cook or shop, so they order meals and groceries online, and buy outfits from Internet styling services that deliver to their doorsteps. The fallout from these new forms of consumption is readily apparent in the lobbies of apartment buildings, which are often littered with boxes.

“We see the recycling stream on a daily basis, and it’s gone from gray to brown,” said Darryl Moses, operations manager at the 200,000-square-foot Hunters Point recycling plant run by the city’s long-standing waste and recycling hauler, Recology.

Read the full story here.

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