Plastic Predicaments
Frequently found polluting California coastlines and posing a choking hazard to marine life like sea turtles, this single-use plastic item faced statewide restrictions for restaurants starting in 2019 unless requested by the customer.
What is a plastic straw?
Learn: These are often made of polypropylene (#5 plastic) but are too small and lightweight to be properly sorted at most recycling facilities, often ending up as litter.
This common symbol with three arrows means an item might be recyclable, but you still need to check local rules, like those for SF's blue bins.
What is the recycling symbol?
Learn: California passed laws (like SB 343) aiming to restrict the use of this symbol only to products that are genuinely recyclable in most California communities.
Turning food scraps and yard waste into soil enrichment, like San Francisco requires residents to do using the green bin, is called this.
What is composting?
Learn: Composting requires a balance of "greens" (like food scraps, providing nitrogen) and "browns" (like dry leaves or paper, providing carbon) for microorganisms to work effectively
Old electronics like computers, TVs, printers, and cell phones are known as this type of waste.
What is e-waste (or electronic waste)?
Learn: Besides hazardous materials, e-waste contains valuable precious metals like gold, silver, and copper, which recycling aims to recover, reducing the need for environmentally damaging mining.
The first "R" in the waste hierarchy – meaning simply to use less stuff in the first place.
What is Reduce?
Learn: This includes actions like buying items with less packaging, opting out of junk mail (like via SF Environment resources), or simply buying fewer things overall.
The number inside the recycling symbol on plastic items mainly tells you this about the plastic.
What is the type of plastic resin?
Learn: Plastics #1 (PET - e.g., water/soda bottles) & #2 (HDPE - e.g., milk jugs, detergent bottles) are the most commonly recycled plastics nationwide.
Plastic #5 (PP - e.g., yogurt cups, margarine tubs) is sometimes recycled. However, recyclability always varies by location, so check local rules.
Plastics #3 (PVC - e.g., pipes, siding), #4 (LDPE - e.g., plastic bags, film wrap), #6 (PS - e.g., Styrofoam, disposable cutlery), and #7 (Other - e.g., polycarbonate, mixed plastics) are generally not accepted in standard curbside recycling programs
Pizza boxes often can't be recycled in the blue bin if they have too much of this oily stuff soaked into the cardboard.
What is grease (or food residue)?
Learn: The grease bonds with the paper fibers; during the pulping process, this oil doesn't mix with water and can create spots or holes in the final recycled paper product.
Food waste rotting in landfills (where there's no oxygen) produces this powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
What is methane?
Learn: Capturing methane gas from landfills (Landfill Gas to Energy) is one way to mitigate its climate impact, but preventing food waste from reaching landfills in the first place (via composting or donation) is even better.
Large, managed areas where trash that isn't recycled or composted is safely buried, like the Altamont facility serving parts of the Bay Area.
What are landfills?
Learn: Modern landfills are carefully engineered in layers (or "cells") and are typically covered daily with soil or alternative materials to reduce odors, deter pests, and prevent litter from blowing away.
Using something again for its original purpose or a new one, like refilling a water bottle or using a glass jar for storage.
What is Reuse?
Learn: Supporting thrift stores, using reusable containers for lunches, and repairing items instead of replacing them are all forms of reuse that save resources.
Very tiny pieces of plastic, smaller than a grain of rice, that pollute the ocean and can be eaten by fish and other marine life.
What are microplastics?
Learn: One major source is synthetic clothing like fleece; washing these garments releases thousands of tiny plastic fibers into wastewater. 1
Plastic bags and plastic film shouldn't go in recycling bins because they wrap around and jam these important machines at the recycling center.
What are sorting machines?
Learn: These machines, often using rotating discs or screens called "star screens," are designed for rigid items; films and bags wrap around them, causing shutdowns for manual removal.
"Sell By" or "Best By" dates on food often refer to peak quality, not safety, causing people to throw away good food because of these.
What are date labels?
Learn: Efforts are underway to standardize date labels (e.g., using "Use By" for safety and "Best If Used By" for quality) to reduce consumer confusion and food waste.
The contaminated liquid, sometimes called "garbage juice," that forms when rain or other water filters through trash in a landfill.
What is leachate?
Learn: Treatment methods for leachate can be complex and expensive, often involving processes similar to those used at wastewater treatment plants before the liquid can be safely discharged.
An idea where we try to keep materials in use longer through repairing, reusing, and recycling, avoiding the 'take-make-dispose' pattern.
What is the Circular Economy?
Learn: This concept emphasizes designing products for durability, repairability, and eventual disassembly to facilitate reuse and recycling of components.
Often used for takeout coffee cups and packing material, this lightweight white plastic (#6) is hard to recycle and banned as foodware in SF.
What is polystyrene (or Styrofoam)?
Learn: It's over 90% air, making it bulky but lightweight. This low density makes it costly to transport for recycling, contributing to its low recycling rates.
Giving jars and cans a quick rinse helps keep recycling bins clean and prevents this problem for the sorted materials.
What is contamination?
Learn: Besides attracting pests, leftover food or liquid can saturate paper products in the bin, lowering their quality and making them less valuable or even unrecyclable.
Using special worms, like Red Wigglers, to break down food scraps in a bin creates nutrient-rich fertilizer through this process.
What is vermicomposting?
Learn: Worm castings (the end product) are particularly rich in beneficial microbes and nutrients that are readily available for plants to absorb
Things like batteries, old paint, fluorescent bulbs, and strong cleaners are considered this; they need special disposal in California, not the regular trash.
What is Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)?
Learn: Even small amounts of HHW improperly disposed of (like pouring paint down the drain or putting batteries in the trash) can contaminate water supplies or cause fires in collection trucks or facilities.
A goal aiming to send almost no trash to the landfill by focusing on preventing waste and using reuse, recycling, and composting.
What is Zero Waste?
Learn: While achieving literal zero waste is extremely difficult, the goal drives focus on preventing waste upstream (at the source) rather than just managing it after it's created. SF has a Zero Waste goal.
A huge area in the Pacific Ocean where currents trap large amounts of floating plastic trash.
What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
Learn: It's not a solid island, but rather a vast area with a high concentration of debris, ranging from large fishing nets (ghost nets) down to microplastics, spread across the surface and water column.
Tossing questionable items in the recycling bin hoping they'll get recycled anyway is called this, but it actually harms the recycling process.
What is wishcycling?
Learn: Common wishcycled items include garden hoses, clothing hangers, broken ceramics, and plastic toys – none of which belong in typical curbside recycling bins.
Collecting safe, uneaten food from places like grocery stores or restaurants to give to people in need, like the SF-Marin Food Bank does.
What is food rescue (or food recovery)?
Learn: California's SB 1383 mandates that large food generators (like supermarkets and distributors) donate the maximum amount of their edible surplus food to feed people.
The process of burning trash at very high temperatures to reduce its volume, sometimes used to create energy (though less common in California).
What is incineration?
Learn: The ash remaining after incineration significantly reduces the volume of waste needing landfilling, but it still needs proper management as it can contain concentrated levels of heavy metals.
Studying the total environmental impact of a product, from getting the raw materials to make it, to using it, and finally disposing of it.
What is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?
Learn: LCAs help identify the stages where a product has the biggest environmental footprint (e.g., raw material extraction, transportation, use phase energy consumption), guiding efforts for improvement.