SF Mandatory Composting Law Heading Toward Passage

This one nearly flew under the radar until I picked it up on Eating Liberally.

On Tuesday, the SF board of supervisors overwhelmingly approved a measure that will not only require residents to have three separate bins for trash, compost and recyclables, but will also allow for fines if people throw compostables in the trash.

I'm not sure where I stand on this. Composting is a beneficial, and the city waste managers are claiming that they aren't going to go around doling out the $100 fines unless offenders are egregious.

On the other hand, once this law is on the books it can be easily applied to the letter as a revenue generation tool should economic conditions warrant. Once the city gets a taste of that money I think it will be very difficult if not impossible to repeal. (See: traffic ticketing)

My friend Mike told me a related story yesterday. The cost of SF street sweeping had gotten out of hand so the city went to a bi-weekly schedule for it. Very quickly they realized that sweeping less frequently was actually costing them more money.

The culprit? Lost revenue from issuing citations on street sweeping days.

Municipal economics are a tricky thing. The city makes their final vote next week.