The San Carlos City
Council is currently reviewing a proposal from Allied Waste (along with 11
other members of the SBWMA) to provide weekly
food and yard waste pick up for residents. If accepted by City
Council, our food waste will be picked up at curbside and composted along with
our other organic yard waste rather than sent to the landfill.
Sign the petition to the San Carlos City Council asking for weekly food waste pickup.
San Carlos
Green supports this proposal for many of the same reasons the SBWMA has said
they do.
SBWMA says that collecting and composting food and yard waste weekly would have:
“Significant climate change impact. Ton for ton, composting is the most effective
option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from organic materials. Organic waste
decomposing in the absence of oxygen in a landfill produces significant methane
emissions. Since Methane is 21 times
more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, reduction of organic
material sent to the landfill is the most preferable option for this material.”
And that weekly collection would:
- "Provide greater convenience and
additional services to residents
- Reduce the rate impact of a new
collection services program scheduled to begin in 2011.”
So why would we hesitate?
There will likely be a cost increase due to additional manpower and trucks that
would be needed to provide the weekly service.
How much would our bill increase?
The SBWMA estimates an increase of 3.6% to 5.2% if ALL the member cities sign up
- but not all will. If our rate went up 10% that would equal $1.60/month if
your bill is at the 32 gal./week rate of $47.91/quarter.
However,
having your food scraps collected may mean that you’re able to reduce your 32
gallon bin to a 20 gallon bin causing your current rate to go DOWN $2.00/month—potential
net result is a $0.40/month savings off your current bill.
There’s
another reason why San Carlos Green would like to see this plan implemented and
it’s something we should all care about.
San Carlos prides itself as being Green. We’ve helped to achieve an additional 80kW of solar photovoltaics in the community, handed out energy saving light bulbs, we are planting a pesticide-free
native landscape at Vista Park, we’re putting an environmental element into the
General Plan and working to implement a Green Building
policy. But when it
comes to waste diversion rates (actural diversion, Sales Tax Revenue, etc.), San Carlos
has the lowest reported diversion rate of all 10 SBWMA cities. Atherton, Belmont,
Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster
City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City and San
Mateo have higher reported diversion rates than San Carlos. The City is working with SBWMA on the reporting process to insure its accuracy and that as much of the diverted materials are reported.
Howver, we have an
opportunity to greatly improve on this record now. We urge you
to support Allied’s offer to pick up food and yard waste weekly and compost
more of our waste stream. We’ll help our environment, reduce green-house gasses
and create more usable compost for our yards.
Our City Council needs to know you want to compost our
organics!
If you want this service in San Carlos, we need to hear from you
now!
Please sign our petition
and SPREAD THE WORD!
Thank you for taking green action! |
