By Colleen Rivecca, HANC President
On June 19, 2014, the Neighborhood Services and Safety Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a hearing, called by Supervisor Eric Mar, on the closure of recycling centers in San Francisco. Supervisor Mar characterized the wave of recycling center closures in San Francisco as an economic justice issue, a facet of the City’s current eviction and displacement crisis, and as a threat to San Francisco’s stated goal to reach “zero waste” by 2020.
The hearing featured speakers from San Francisco’s Department of the Environment, Department of Public Works, and Office of Small Business, as well as speakers from CalRecycle, Recology, and the office of Assembly Member Tom Ammiano.
21 Centers Now Down to 7
Supervisor Mar pointed out that in 2012, San Francisco had 21 community recycling centers, and with the recent closure of the recycling center at the Safeway at Ocean Beach and the impending closure of the recycling center at the Safeway at Church and Market, there will be only 7 recycling centers remaining in San Francisco, making us the most underserved city in the state of California.
As a follow-up to the hearing, Supervisor Mar introduced a resolution on June 24, urging a “moratorium on redemption center closures in the City and County of San Francisco; and for supermarkets in San Francisco and the State agency CalRecycle to meet their statutory obligations by convening with the Department of the Environment to find solutions for a more evenly distributed network of recycling centers and ensure that a recycling center is located in their parking lots or redemption recycling is provided immediately nearby.”
The resolution is scheduled to be voted on by the full Board of Supervisors at their July 8, 2014 meeting.