It sure is and it's damn good for Turf also...lots of carbon is excellent for the soil biochar is also great as well. it acts like a sponge absorbing water when it's too rainy and it releases water when it's dry..full of carbon
@@Pumpkin-VR2 Well nitrogen drives n the bus that's for sure..It's the big daddy.. Not sure if you're talkin about getting nitrogen from biochar which is NOT why you put biochar on turf. Definitely want to get your nitrogen from your granular or liquid fertilizer, but I'm sure the porous biochar acts like sponges to accumulate and release nitrogen as well other nutrients to your soil if that's what you're saying? Which it probably is and you're correct
Environmental engineer here. I am all for this type of process and hope that all cities can implement this. Of course, there is always room for improvement and I understand small cities that don't have the land space or can't tolerate the smell will have a hard time. But just the fact that food waste that would otherwise be landfilled can be reused to generate nutrients is where we can truly "recycle" food. I encourage anyone who has a backyard to compost on their own. I have the luxury of doing this with any of my food scraps and just burying them in my backyard. This saves gas from haulers having to pick it up, and I am able to grow my own fruits and veggies outside, which is a win-win in my book.
@@jeffwei I love hearing about other worm binners! I'm considering doing a "friendship worm" gift circle with friends and family who are interested in starting their own bins once my worms get too plentiful. Like the sourdough starter, but with red wigglers. :D
Here in Finland we treat our compostable waste differently: first we let it break down in bio reactors to create methane that we capture and purify so it can be used just like natural gas since the composition is the same. After that the remaining is going to be composted as shown. Nice extra energy captured in the process, one use is in vehicles!
In Finland only the finest waste goes to bioenergy plants, grude stuff goes directly to composting. Its been like that since 90's of course new tech has made it more efficient.
in canada and america , we have all the natural gas and oil we need . if we were like finland without those resources in the ground then yah we would def be doing the same i think . good process tho , nothing goes to waste .
I wish they’d mentioned home-composting and the tools required for it , like earth worms . I’ve been composting for 2 years and I can’t believe how amazing nature is : the composter never smells bad , it never fills up , I get tons of compost on summer , and most importantly I’ve massively reduced my garbage
As someone who has always been bummed that there wasn't any composting options in my city of roughly 200k people, I finally decided to give it a shot. I know run my own composting business and I'd encourage anyone else without options to start their own too! It's a learning process and a lot of work but it has been so worth it!
@@RumblesBettr It’s not a matter of having garden or not, it’s a matter of realizing to what end will your waste becomes. Because most of the waste you created will ended up piling in landfill accumulating even bigger. You may be lucky enough to be able to not think about it, but it’s probably because your city already have a system going to manage that waste, and you can afford to benefit from that system. Also you can still compost without having any garden (to sell them maybe), and buying them is a roundabout way that cost you more money, since they sold waste back to you in form of compost, when you can just let organic stuff rots back into soil for free.
Speaking as someone in France I find the idea of not composting crazy I have done it at home for my garden my whole life ! So good on you guys for doing it well !
I think most Western World countries have been doing this and more, for over two decades. America just doesn't care about it's Global Mass of Pollution.
This sounds like a typical US-American point of view. In many Western countries this is more than normal. And the fact that this isn’t even standardized in the US but instead a regional curiosity that Business Insider thinks it’s worth mentioning is a little shocking...
most of the world does this, US just doesnt and is selfcentered enough to think that if most of the US doesnt do is the rest of the civilized world doesnt do it. Incredibly dumb take by business insider.
everyone should try composting at least once in their life. it really show you just how much organic matter we throw away. we usually fill a gallon bucket every day, this is a lot of stuff we used to just trash
You're right. Between the stuff that goes in the recycling bin and composting, I have a small bag of trash every two weeks. Most stuff is one or the other.
We do that here in the U.K. It’s called Green Waste, but it doesn’t seem to be done very well. By the time it gets back to the field it’s filled with metal, plastic and other trash. It’s despicable.
I've just moved to Brighton & Hove area, they're the only green council in the UK & are miles behind the surrounding councils in terms of recycling & green waste. Doesn't help alot of people pay no heed to what they can & can't bin, locals just fill thier refuse bins with recycling when the other is full & visa versa.
Same here in south Australia, it's shocking quality. We got a trailer load dropped off and I couldn't believe how much plastic and crap was in there and the soil became hydrophobic.
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I work at Walmart and every week we produce 2 dumpsters worth of compost/organics. It’s crazy how much food is seemingly wasted but watching this video made me realize that all of it is recycled back into the earth.
If it goes in the dumpster it didnt get recycled back into the earth. It got buried alongside plastic in a landfill and without access to oxygen instead of turning into compost... it anaerobically processes into methane which ends up contributing to climate change (compared to composting which bacteria mostly processes aerobically creating CO2, which is less warming than methane) Have you considered maybe talking to your work about food waste at a team meeting? I know as retail workers we cant do anything but at least bringing ideas to the table might change minds. I managed to get my work recycling cardboard (which we fill 4 dumpster sized cages of each week) and staff room food scraps
I also read on internet Germany recycle rate is so right that they started to import trash from another near by countries to feed its many garbage-burning power plants, Germany literally don’t have garbage to burn.
As a kid living in S.F. in the early 1960's, at least once weekly, I used to watch GIANT trash filled barges passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, on their way to sea. Once they got ~20 to 30 miles out, they just DUMPED THE CITY'S GARBAGE INTO THE OCEAN. Some of it was also dumped close to what is now the Farallon Island wildlife sanctuary. Of course, some of that floated back onto Baker beach, Ocean beach, the Farallons, or got drawn back into the bay on tidal flows, etc.
Wow I love this! So much respect to those guys. I always imagined how our land would be if we been composting since day 1. I just refed my worms with our kitchen food scraps and i'm so amazed everytime i look in there and it's just nothing but worms, bedding, and compost!
I'm glad that you made this piece on San Francisco's composting program. We've put a lot of work into learning how to do it right and it's important to share that. However, the program would have been even better if you had done a financial analysis.
He was stoked on that $20! Finaly he got the opportunity to tell the world someone threw $20 in the green bin. Man is living a good life with a great attitude.
It's great to see but I'm sorry, all that plastic is not "accidentally" in there... People need to be educated to avoid putting it in the bin at all costs. The bins should be checked as they are dumped and the owner should be fined if plastic is found in their pile. The amount of microplastics is insane, and we are spreading those to said farms.
Let’s create a whole governmental entity and hire thousands of people to fine people for plastic ending up in the pile. Great idea, any other big government ideas up your sleeve? 😖
@@shkibeta I don’t know, like the “big government” plan to incentivize all in San Fransisco to compost their organic waste? Which is clearly succeeding?
@@Billy-qh3vp baby steps. We'll get there. Atleast we put a step forward. We have alot of people currently complaining about sorting their garbage and just complaining for the sake of complaining, so we gatta give em time to adjust lol
Seeing the amount of plastic in compost trash is not just an accidental but it means most of the people are ignorant or don't care. Local governments should enforce strict fines for such homes/restaurants etc.
We have it in my city (southern Germany). I'm a bit astonished by the amount of plastic trash visible on the video which will eventually decompose into microplastics. Here using bags (even those wrongly marked as "compostable") is illegal for the brown bin. And it's turned into biogas, electricity and compost by a dry fermentation system.
Agreed! I was really shocked too. I've been composting for over 15 years and am absolutely meticulous about not letting even and fruit stickers go in my compost pile.
I compost all my garden and lawn waste as well as food scraps. If i had a bigger yard i would have pigs to feed cooked food scraps to so they dont go into the trash.
@jarid gaming "If i had a bigger yard i would have pigs to feed cooked food scraps to so they dont go into the trash." why not get chickens instead- they will eat scrap cooked food scraps , produce eggs and fertiliser
@@TheRahsoft I dont have a big enough yard for birds either. My yard is only a 20 x 20 foot yard. Its all a garden so i dont have to buy produce anymore. Trust me i thought about it. But i have an HOA and i live in a Townhouse so the neighbors would hear the birds. I thought about ducks because they are more quiet but i think someone would still report me and i would have to get rid of them or send them to the great freezer in the sky to soon
@@jaridkeen123 Just a suggestion: maybe you could try a vermicompost system. Worms and Black Soldier Flies can go through a surprising amount of food waste.
I love to see cities with required composting. It is not required where I am, but I compost in my yard, and it means I throw out only about 1 bag of garbage a month, about the size of a grocery bag or a family size bag of chips. I used a bag that can't otherwise be recycled, and I'm looking to reduce this waste amount further - the garbage ends up mainly being non-recyclable packaging. On another note - did anyone else feel really worried about all the plastic that was still in the piles while it was composting (I wonder about dioxins/other contamimants being released from plastics in the heat and acidity)? One thing that incorporating recycling and composting into daily has taught me is to always put thought into breaking down waste into its respective components based on final destination. I wonder if city programs can allow for compost to go directly into bins, or, in some cities yard waste is required to be placed in strong, industrial-sized paper bags, which would be biodegradable. Such amazing work - programs like these need to be designed, planned, implemented and managed so carefully to be successful, so this is great work!
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Yeah in aus (Sydney) we have 3 bins green for green waste, yellow for recycling and red for general waste. The red bins are getting smaller and smaller over the years. Probably in a bid to get people to sort out their waste so everyone actually fits into the smaller red bins. It’s a good strategy. But people still can’t sort there waste. Which is kind of a shame cuz that’s the reason why we can’t have prober recycling infrastructure
in norway too. and it cost more and more to have those kind of services. and the landfill area stat own. expand, build bigger better buildings, and have park service outside the fence making everything green and tidy.
@@boringbastard4920$450 year of my landtax (council rates) fees go to the rubbish collection in Aus. We actually have a pretty good system i just don't think it's utilised well by the general public.
yes definitely. it may even be able to partially or fully pay for itself with some upfront costs bc you can sell the finished compost to farmers and gardeners to make back money instead of raising taxes
@ Actually, YES. I have "The Humanure Handbook" by Joe Jenkins. It's full of science. Composting is carbon negative because it uses aerobic decomposition. Landfills use anaerobic decomposition which causes methane. It's sounds like you're the one that doesn't know basic science. He's the expert.
thank you recology workers for all you do for the bay area. please keep educating people how to sort. i see weird stuff in the recycling bins especially.
After the city I live in imposed new rules on sorting of household trash to include the separation of organic material the remaining trash my household sends to our local waste facility to be incinerated mainly consists of plastics in some form or another - I guess it is above 80% actually.
One great thing that I've started seeing is smaller portion sizes which is great. You can buy 1/2 loaf of bread and chicken with only 2 pasta in the package. We just don't have big households anymore!
Lots of people are incompetent, don't have time, don't care to learn, wouldn't use the end-product, will not put in the effort, will do more harm than good, etc.
Good Lord if there was that much plastic in our organics here in Vancouver Canada we have someone from the city knocking on our door. I was freaked out when I lived in Los Angeles and you could just dump everything in one container and walk away.
I love that guy doing the hand sorting. It goes to show you that there can be pride in any field of work. One of my first jobs was cleaning horse stalls. I got intense satisfaction making sure the fresh shavings waere perfectly spread, buckets clean and water sparkling clean.
I love it, but I'm a little shocked that this happens so late. This project started when for instance Germany was separating and recycling materials for 24 years already and even Germany could have started way sooner.
In Denver some pay to participate in the composting program which comes with some benefits. I don’t as I actively compost for my own use. It would be something if composting was part of the service we pay for, refuse and recycling, as it is a local resource that has many benefits. The sale of the finished product is just one.
depends where you go. where I lived $12 got me a super burrito with all the fixings AND chips/salsa on the side. here in pittsburgh $15 gets me a small, non filling burrito. not everywhere in california is SF or LA
That'd be a pretty cool job. I've noticed here in Tenessee alot of hospitals, in their restrooms have cardboard trashcans since they are typically filled up with paper towels they get recycled trashcan and all. It was pretty cool to see, I'd like to see that implemented everywhere.
Well if it is in my compost bin, what happens is it gets checked twice a week to keep the proper greens to browns ratio. Also twice a week it gets its biweekly spray shower to keep it from drying up. And it also gets its tumble to mix everything inside. As to what happens to things you throw out to be composted, dunno, but I guess this video may shed some light on it
@@shkibeta But it works. Try living in a city like Jacksonville Florida where they just gave up on picking up the trash in half the city. You'll appreciate sorting your compost then.
This is cool but I was hoping they would talk more about the business! Is it profitable?? How much is the compost worth? If so, every place should require this
Well it is for Recology because in San Francisco we pay a waste bill to them as a utility which covers the net loss in profitability due to composting. I believe if you are business they give you a different rate based on how much of your waste is not compostable and not recyclable. In addition, businesses are required to have separate bins and charge the customer for bags, as well as no longer are allowed to have plastic straws. There is some violations, but overall I'd say compliance is pretty high and locally we've gotten used to it. I've been to the main center that processes the city waste (you have to go there if you need to dump special e waste and such. From the line of cars nearby, I think it's also where you can get back full CRV value on aluminum recycling). It's mind boggling to think that that building used to be filled to the brim with trash every day. It's nothing like that today. The people there are very friendly and morale is high. They'll even chat you up if you are okay with shouting over the sound of giant water sprays hosing down the trash. The only minus is that the execs were caught and prosecuted in a bribery and over billing scam in conjunction with many of the city officials.
Well recology allows (at least in CA) for its customers to take around 10 bags of 1.5 tons worth of compost from their local site. We get a ticket in the mail and everything. Its the same compost/fertilizer you buy at the store.
Love the guy who loves every part of his job, this type pf people are doing the real job that is solving so many issues we normal people don't even realize. we would love to add this to our playlist to inspire more people to compose and how this is so important for our planet ~Team planet cents
America is so far behind the times. The UK have been recycling garden & food waste separately for about 25 years. More than 10 years ago we started recycling Paper, plastic & glass separately.
Not everywhere though. I've just moved and I now live in the first place in the UK I've lived in for over 15 years that doesn't recycle food waste. It's very strange to me.
This is amazing. i hope more places will do this，I am very thankful for their efforts. thank you recology workers for all you do for the bay area. please keep educating people how to sort. i see weird stuff in the recycling bins especially.
I've had a compost pile in the corner of my driveway for many years. I compost food scraps, paper, cotton balls, Q-Tips, canned good labels, 100% cotton clothing, kleenex, cardboard, dog hair, leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, and roadkill. It breaks down quickly, doesn't smell, and is excellent for adding to my gardens. We should all be doing it.
I live in Los Angeles and I think everyone would agree we need to support a carbon sink immediately. Excited for 2022 and the prospect of local composting
80 miles east of SF? That's not in SF or the Bay at all; that's roughly the straightline distance from SF to Sacramento (which is probably still a slight underestimate)
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Lolol as a Canadian watching this...the green bin program has been going since the late 90's in Nova Scotia and yes all of Canada is supposed to compost. When I visited the states in 2007 to see my sister in VIRGINIA I was FLOORED with putting food waste down the drain for the garberator, food in the trash and throwing bottles in the garbage can because back then in Richmond. VA, there wasn't any recycling program from the city...like...the city....didn't pick up recyclables. Here where I live we have paper recycling, corrugated cardboard recycling, bottle and can recycling, Plastic recycling, glass/container recycling, leaf composting, composting, and garbage collection. In fact: we actually banned black garbage bags in Nova Scotia ( each household is allowed to put out 6 bags per collection and 1 of them is allowed to be black for privacy). The clear bags make sure that nothing goes where it shouldn't!
Take too long to fill and recover the finished product, and the possible risk of fire given its huge size( can you imagine falling in). Plus i suspect the bottom of the pit would become anaerobic( no oxygen) ..like a landfill
I have 2 worm bins (vermicompost) and one normal non-worm compost bin. In a normal compost, it needs a lot of oxygen , which means either manually flipping over and turning the content, or force air through it like this San Francisco composting facilities. And we will get compost, which is a carbon that plant roots uses. And amount of carbon dioxide released is smaller too. In a landfill, the garbages are stacked up and it becomes anaerobic (no oxygen) and organic content will instead becomes methane, which is 25 times worse greenhouse (compared to carbon dioxide)
@@jonathanjones3126 yes. In some landfill, the biogas in the form of methane are collected, and then purified by removing water vapour , and then finally the methane is, used as fuel to produce energy
I add about 1 gallon of food waste every week to my compost pile. It's cooking at about 130 degrees now. Will add it to my garden this spring and start all over again.
'its a dirty job. someones got to do it, im the guy who does it, and i do it with joy' respect brother
Mike Rowe would be proud 😎.
AND he got an extra $20
Hes making bank, that's why he does it with joy!
Estimate the salary of that worker ⬇️
I'm proud and salute you sir
As a landscaper I really appreciate what they are doing. Compost is one of the most valuable tools in creating beautiful gardens
Yes yes yes, indeed it is 💯
It sure is and it's damn good for Turf also...lots of carbon is excellent for the soil
biochar is also great as well. it acts like a sponge absorbing water when it's too rainy and it releases water when it's dry..full of carbon
@@BuffaloNickel9 Also Nitrogen
@@Pumpkin-VR2 Well nitrogen drives n the bus that's for sure..It's the big daddy..
Not sure if you're talkin about getting nitrogen from biochar which is NOT why you put biochar on turf.
Definitely want to get your nitrogen from your granular or liquid fertilizer, but I'm sure the porous biochar acts like sponges to accumulate and release nitrogen as well other nutrients to your soil if that's what you're saying?
Which it probably is and you're correct
@@BuffaloNickel9 Yup
Environmental engineer here. I am all for this type of process and hope that all cities can implement this. Of course, there is always room for improvement and I understand small cities that don't have the land space or can't tolerate the smell will have a hard time. But just the fact that food waste that would otherwise be landfilled can be reused to generate nutrients is where we can truly "recycle" food.
I encourage anyone who has a backyard to compost on their own. I have the luxury of doing this with any of my food scraps and just burying them in my backyard. This saves gas from haulers having to pick it up, and I am able to grow my own fruits and veggies outside, which is a win-win in my book.
Even if you don't have a backyard! I live in an apartment and I have a worm bin that I feed a lot of my food scraps
@@jeffwei want to see it on your channel?
I just put it in a big pile and burn it
@@jeffwei I love hearing about other worm binners! I'm considering doing a "friendship worm" gift circle with friends and family who are interested in starting their own bins once my worms get too plentiful. Like the sourdough starter, but with red wigglers. :D
@@jamie6387 that's a net negative.
Here in Finland we treat our compostable waste differently: first we let it break down in bio reactors to create methane that we capture and purify so it can be used just like natural gas since the composition is the same. After that the remaining is going to be composted as shown. Nice extra energy captured in the process, one use is in vehicles!
anaerobic compost isn't equivalent to aerobic. the biodiversity is different and thus not as suitable to plants which need the aerobic microorganisms
In Finland only the finest waste goes to bioenergy plants, grude stuff goes directly to composting. Its been like that since 90's of course new tech has made it more efficient.
in canada and america , we have all the natural gas and oil we need . if we were like finland without those resources in the ground then yah we would def be doing the same i think . good process tho , nothing goes to waste .
@@sammydiamond6115 this. The extra cost of making methane like that would just not make sense, due to how low our natural gas prices are.
I wish they’d mentioned home-composting and the tools required for it , like earth worms .
I’ve been composting for 2 years and I can’t believe how amazing nature is : the composter never smells bad , it never fills up , I get tons of compost on summer , and most importantly I’ve massively reduced my garbage
As someone who has always been bummed that there wasn't any composting options in my city of roughly 200k people, I finally decided to give it a shot. I know run my own composting business and I'd encourage anyone else without options to start their own too! It's a learning process and a lot of work but it has been so worth it!
Nahh trashing it all is just easy. No use for compost. Im not running a garden to make my own food thats just silliness i can buy it
would love to learn more! I'm looking into doing the same and feel a little overwhelmed
@@RumblesBettr It’s not a matter of having garden or not, it’s a matter of realizing to what end will your waste becomes. Because most of the waste you created will ended up piling in landfill accumulating even bigger. You may be lucky enough to be able to not think about it, but it’s probably because your city already have a system going to manage that waste, and you can afford to benefit from that system.
Also you can still compost without having any garden (to sell them maybe), and buying them is a roundabout way that cost you more money, since they sold waste back to you in form of compost, when you can just let organic stuff rots back into soil for free.
Speaking as someone in France I find the idea of not composting crazy I have done it at home for my garden my whole life ! So good on you guys for doing it well !
This is the recycling we need all over the world.
I think most Western World countries have been doing this and more, for over two decades. America just doesn't care about it's Global Mass of Pollution.
This sounds like a typical US-American point of view. In many Western countries this is more than normal. And the fact that this isn’t even standardized in the US but instead a regional curiosity that Business Insider thinks it’s worth mentioning is a little shocking...
In my country this has been done since the 1980's. The USA is very slow to catch up with the rest of the world.
most of the world does this, US just doesnt and is selfcentered enough to think that if most of the US doesnt do is the rest of the civilized world doesnt do it. Incredibly dumb take by business insider.
@HunterBidensCrackPipe We convert biowaste to biogas here in Denmark, and the bi-product is natural fertilizer to the farmers - win/win.
everyone should try composting at least once in their life.
it really show you just how much organic matter we throw away.
we usually fill a gallon bucket every day, this is a lot of stuff we used to just trash
You're right. Between the stuff that goes in the recycling bin and composting, I have a small bag of trash every two weeks. Most stuff is one or the other.
How does one even start this
We do that here in the U.K. It’s called Green Waste, but it doesn’t seem to be done very well. By the time it gets back to the field it’s filled with metal, plastic and other trash. It’s despicable.
@JitzyJT we do have separate bins for that, it’s just lazy people who don’t do it properly that end up contaminating the countryside.
I've just moved to Brighton & Hove area, they're the only green council in the UK & are miles behind the surrounding councils in terms of recycling & green waste.
Doesn't help alot of people pay no heed to what they can & can't bin, locals just fill thier refuse bins with recycling when the other is full & visa versa.
Same here in south Australia, it's shocking quality. We got a trailer load dropped off and I couldn't believe how much plastic and crap was in there and the soil became hydrophobic.
It could be a very difficult job but if more people helped out we would be in a paradise, literally
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I wish my Town i Florida composted so i can get compost from the Dump. I would love that as a gardener
In california we get 10 1.5 ton bags worth of compost from the recology people each year.
Orange County, Florida provides free compost to residents
@@gabrielferrer3205 i live in Brevard :/ The Space Coast is behind
You could start a small compost in your yard.
My city only composts yard waste but that's better than nothing.
I work at Walmart and every week we produce 2 dumpsters worth of compost/organics. It’s crazy how much food is seemingly wasted but watching this video made me realize that all of it is recycled back into the earth.
If it goes in the dumpster it didnt get recycled back into the earth.
It got buried alongside plastic in a landfill and without access to oxygen instead of turning into compost... it anaerobically processes into methane which ends up contributing to climate change (compared to composting which bacteria mostly processes aerobically creating CO2, which is less warming than methane)
Have you considered maybe talking to your work about food waste at a team meeting?
I know as retail workers we cant do anything but at least bringing ideas to the table might change minds.
I managed to get my work recycling cardboard (which we fill 4 dumpster sized cages of each week)
and staff room food scraps
In Germany, we sort our daily waste in four different trash cans: compostables, plastic packaging, paper and rubbish. We do that over 25 years now.
So funny, this is just something we take for granted here in Germany. We even have four different bins, not just two
Where I'm at we got 3.
Recycling
Organics
Trash
@@southaussiegarbo2054 and where do you live
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I always heard Germany has a very efficient waste management system. They even separate the glass by color. Does Germany have landfills?
I also read on internet Germany recycle rate is so right that they started to import trash from another near by countries to feed its many garbage-burning power plants, Germany literally don’t have garbage to burn.
As a kid living in S.F. in the early 1960's, at least once weekly, I used to watch GIANT trash filled barges passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, on their way to sea.
Once they got ~20 to 30 miles out, they just DUMPED THE CITY'S GARBAGE INTO THE OCEAN. Some of it was also dumped close to what is now the Farallon Island wildlife sanctuary.
Of course, some of that floated back onto Baker beach, Ocean beach, the Farallons, or got drawn back into the bay on tidal flows, etc.
Wow I love this! So much respect to those guys. I always imagined how our land would be if we been composting since day 1. I just refed my worms with our kitchen food scraps and i'm so amazed everytime i look in there and it's just nothing but worms, bedding, and compost!
I'm glad that you made this piece on San Francisco's composting program. We've put a lot of work into learning how to do it right and it's important to share that. However, the program would have been even better if you had done a financial analysis.
Video got the like when he said he does the job no one else wants to do with joy 💯
He was stoked on that $20! Finaly he got the opportunity to tell the world someone threw $20 in the green bin. Man is living a good life with a great attitude.
It's great to see but I'm sorry, all that plastic is not "accidentally" in there... People need to be educated to avoid putting it in the bin at all costs.
The bins should be checked as they are dumped and the owner should be fined if plastic is found in their pile.
The amount of microplastics is insane, and we are spreading those to said farms.
Yeah, the plastic in there was dumb. Stupid people.
@sprock something something highly illogical *raises eyebrow*
Then I'd get fined from the randos who think my compost is a dog poop bag disposal.
Lazy bastards.
Let’s create a whole governmental entity and hire thousands of people to fine people for plastic ending up in the pile. Great idea, any other big government ideas up your sleeve? 😖
@@shkibeta I don’t know, like the “big government” plan to incentivize all in San Fransisco to compost their organic waste? Which is clearly succeeding?
Glad to say we have adapted this system in edmonton canada.
Problem in Edmonton is all garbage gets shipped to Riley an hour away. Lots of fossil fuels spent just in shipping.
@@Billy-qh3vp baby steps. We'll get there. Atleast we put a step forward. We have alot of people currently complaining about sorting their garbage and just complaining for the sake of complaining, so we gatta give em time to adjust lol
Seeing the amount of plastic in compost trash is not just an accidental but it means most of the people are ignorant or don't care. Local governments should enforce strict fines for such homes/restaurants etc.
We have it in my city (southern Germany). I'm a bit astonished by the amount of plastic trash visible on the video which will eventually decompose into microplastics. Here using bags (even those wrongly marked as "compostable") is illegal for the brown bin. And it's turned into biogas, electricity and compost by a dry fermentation system.
Agreed! I was really shocked too. I've been composting for over 15 years and am absolutely meticulous about not letting even and fruit stickers go in my compost pile.
@@capicuaaahow do you dispose of the fruit sticker?
I compost all my garden and lawn waste as well as food scraps. If i had a bigger yard i would have pigs to feed cooked food scraps to so they dont go into the trash.
@jarid gaming
"If i had a bigger yard i would have pigs to feed cooked food scraps to so they dont go into the trash."
why not get chickens instead- they will eat scrap cooked food scraps , produce eggs and fertiliser
Why did you stop posting bro 🥲🥲
@@TheRahsoft I dont have a big enough yard for birds either. My yard is only a 20 x 20 foot yard. Its all a garden so i dont have to buy produce anymore.
Trust me i thought about it. But i have an HOA and i live in a Townhouse so the neighbors would hear the birds. I thought about ducks because they are more quiet but i think someone would still report me and i would have to get rid of them or send them to the great freezer in the sky to soon
@@jaridkeen123 Just a suggestion: maybe you could try a vermicompost system. Worms and Black Soldier Flies can go through a surprising amount of food waste.
My respects and dear appreciation to Abi Morales, that's the attitude that we had to take not only what we do for living, but also for life.
I love to see cities with required composting. It is not required where I am, but I compost in my yard, and it means I throw out only about 1 bag of garbage a month, about the size of a grocery bag or a family size bag of chips. I used a bag that can't otherwise be recycled, and I'm looking to reduce this waste amount further - the garbage ends up mainly being non-recyclable packaging. On another note - did anyone else feel really worried about all the plastic that was still in the piles while it was composting (I wonder about dioxins/other contamimants being released from plastics in the heat and acidity)? One thing that incorporating recycling and composting into daily has taught me is to always put thought into breaking down waste into its respective components based on final destination. I wonder if city programs can allow for compost to go directly into bins, or, in some cities yard waste is required to be placed in strong, industrial-sized paper bags, which would be biodegradable. Such amazing work - programs like these need to be designed, planned, implemented and managed so carefully to be successful, so this is great work!
I also compost and produce very little trash as a result. I wouldn't want the compost I saw in this video on my garden.
Food and yard waste from all the cities of the States needs to be composted.
This is sooo common In the uk
The more you know about your customers, the more you can provide to them information that is increasingly useful, relevant, and persuasive
I love you brain
Am definitely stealing this, you are genius 💯
We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest and Know what you own, and know why you own it
@@valenziatyler4882 Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
I love composing in my little backyard, everything is is green and lush!!
Notice how they didn't mention all the greenhouse gas emissions of the machines running all day every day at those facilities. lmao
Big round of applause to these guys! They deserve it!
I love love composting!!! Im glad our state is doing this huge project of composting!!!
Good job Recology! Great video!
Yeah in aus (Sydney) we have 3 bins green for green waste, yellow for recycling and red for general waste. The red bins are getting smaller and smaller over the years. Probably in a bid to get people to sort out their waste so everyone actually fits into the smaller red bins. It’s a good strategy. But people still can’t sort there waste. Which is kind of a shame cuz that’s the reason why we can’t have prober recycling infrastructure
In Singapore ppl just throw everything in the general recycle bin. Baby pampers foods, etc … speechless.
in norway too. and it cost more and more to have those kind of services. and the landfill area stat own. expand, build bigger better buildings, and have park service outside the fence making everything green and tidy.
@@boringbastard4920$450 year of my landtax (council rates) fees go to the rubbish collection in Aus. We actually have a pretty good system i just don't think it's utilised well by the general public.
Nice to see SF clean up its act.
I am very thankful for their efforts
This should seriously become a law that every city must start doing? Seems like this would even create new jobs too, as well as reducing gases
yes definitely. it may even be able to partially or fully pay for itself with some upfront costs bc you can sell the finished compost to farmers and gardeners to make back money instead of raising taxes
Might reduce gases. Probably doesn't at all when considering the amount of energy consumed from trucks and machines to process all that.
@Kitty Holmes compost helps trap co2 in farms so it's actually pretty useful.
@ Actually, YES. I have "The Humanure Handbook" by Joe Jenkins. It's full of science. Composting is carbon negative because it uses aerobic decomposition. Landfills use anaerobic decomposition which causes methane. It's sounds like you're the one that doesn't know basic science. He's the expert.
😂 composting releases CO2 into atmosphere, man you folks are dumb
thank you recology workers for all you do for the bay area. please keep educating people how to sort. i see weird stuff in the recycling bins especially.
After the city I live in imposed new rules on sorting of household trash to include the separation of organic material the remaining trash my household sends to our local waste facility to be incinerated mainly consists of plastics in some form or another - I guess it is above 80% actually.
Mad respect for Javier! I hope you see this brother! Much love from a carpenter in Kentucky!
people who own houses should have their own compost bin. is great for their yard!
Love it...keep up the amazing work. Hopefully more countries will adopt this.
The amount of food wasted in USA is staggering, you really should to find a way to stop it.
Don’t worry I will singlehandedly stop it
One great thing that I've started seeing is smaller portion sizes which is great. You can buy 1/2 loaf of bread and chicken with only 2 pasta in the package. We just don't have big households anymore!
Stop subsidizing corn farmers.
People aren’t “accidentally” putting tons of plastic in the bins. They just don’t give a shit.
The sidewalk humanure composting is amazing.
Lol
Every city in the world must do this!
People should do composting in their own yards too.
Lots of people are incompetent, don't have time, don't care to learn, wouldn't use the end-product, will not put in the effort, will do more harm than good, etc.
They do
@@social3ngin33rin Are those your excuses?
Every landfill should be obligated to do this....SO GREAT!!!!
Good Lord if there was that much plastic in our organics here in Vancouver Canada we have someone from the city knocking on our door. I was freaked out when I lived in Los Angeles and you could just dump everything in one container and walk away.
I love that guy doing the hand sorting. It goes to show you that there can be pride in any field of work. One of my first jobs was cleaning horse stalls. I got intense satisfaction making sure the fresh shavings waere perfectly spread, buckets clean and water sparkling clean.
I love it, but I'm a little shocked that this happens so late.
This project started when for instance Germany was separating and recycling materials for 24 years already and even Germany could have started way sooner.
Great documentary Business Insider.
The fact that it took the US until 2015 to implement an overall beneficial system like this is depressing enough.
In Denver some pay to participate in the composting program which comes with some benefits. I don’t as I actively compost for my own use. It would be something if composting was part of the service we pay for, refuse and recycling, as it is a local resource that has many benefits. The sale of the finished product is just one.
$20.00 is a burrito and a couple of beers in Calif.
depends where you go. where I lived $12 got me a super burrito with all the fixings AND chips/salsa on the side. here in pittsburgh $15 gets me a small, non filling burrito. not everywhere in california is SF or LA
@@berengerchristy6256 - Thanks, now I'm hungry AF.... hmmm... plate of eggs hash brown pots bacon bisquit with jelly.
It's simple rice and beans
That'd be a pretty cool job. I've noticed here in Tenessee alot of hospitals, in their restrooms have cardboard trashcans since they are typically filled up with paper towels they get recycled trashcan and all. It was pretty cool to see, I'd like to see that implemented everywhere.
I would live this job ! Feel so satisfying ! We need this in all countries . Why Singapore is not doing this ?
Well if it is in my compost bin, what happens is it gets checked twice a week to keep the proper greens to browns ratio. Also twice a week it gets its biweekly spray shower to keep it from drying up. And it also gets its tumble to mix everything inside.
As to what happens to things you throw out to be composted, dunno, but I guess this video may shed some light on it
this is soooo freaking exciting. i hope VA catches on soon!!
Composting is fun! 😀🌱👏
We know a lot from here more than our school
Awesome video! Thank you!
We’re all going to have to learn to compost sooner or later.
I do it in my backyard.
Some people don't have backyards.
@@panda5122 If you earn enough money, you can someday have a backyard.
Very well done and narrated. Thank you.
Composting is definitely tied with 3rd it should not be 5th on list lmfao. composting is literally replenishing the earth's soil layer.
I love Abi! He's got a great attitude. I hope he finds more $20s in the trash!
US: We're pioneering a revolution of composting! This might save the world
World: We've done this for 20+ years already
I was thinking the same.. Can't believe USA is just starting
@sprock How is it not a requirement in the whole US already?
Here in Maryland, yard waste is turned into mulch for the county landscaping.
02:32
"A lot of people look at me as trash
And for the most part, that's what it is, trash"
Compost is a valuable resource!
"We're forcing you to save money"
Hahahaha, how generous
Exactly. The city of SF “incentivizes” people to compost by fining them. That’s not how incentives work.
thats just good policy
@@shkibeta But it works. Try living in a city like Jacksonville Florida where they just gave up on picking up the trash in half the city. You'll appreciate sorting your compost then.
@@shkibeta It's one of the ways incentives work. Carrot and stick are both incentives.
Great video. I’ve learned so much about composting.
This is cool but I was hoping they would talk more about the business! Is it profitable?? How much is the compost worth? If so, every place should require this
Well it is for Recology because in San Francisco we pay a waste bill to them as a utility which covers the net loss in profitability due to composting. I believe if you are business they give you a different rate based on how much of your waste is not compostable and not recyclable. In addition, businesses are required to have separate bins and charge the customer for bags, as well as no longer are allowed to have plastic straws. There is some violations, but overall I'd say compliance is pretty high and locally we've gotten used to it.
I've been to the main center that processes the city waste (you have to go there if you need to dump special e waste and such. From the line of cars nearby, I think it's also where you can get back full CRV value on aluminum recycling). It's mind boggling to think that that building used to be filled to the brim with trash every day. It's nothing like that today. The people there are very friendly and morale is high. They'll even chat you up if you are okay with shouting over the sound of giant water sprays hosing down the trash.
The only minus is that the execs were caught and prosecuted in a bribery and over billing scam in conjunction with many of the city officials.
Well recology allows (at least in CA) for its customers to take around 10 bags of 1.5 tons worth of compost from their local site. We get a ticket in the mail and everything. Its the same compost/fertilizer you buy at the store.
Love the guy who loves every part of his job, this type pf people are doing the real job that is solving so many issues we normal people don't even realize.
we would love to add this to our playlist to inspire more people to compose and how this is so important for our planet ~Team planet cents
This happens in NL too gladly. Hopefully more places in the US follow soon
I think I've seen a video on UA-cam about the system in NL. Very nice system.
Awesome report.
America is so far behind the times. The UK have been recycling garden & food waste separately for about 25 years. More than 10 years ago we started recycling Paper, plastic & glass separately.
Not everywhere though. I've just moved and I now live in the first place in the UK I've lived in for over 15 years that doesn't recycle food waste. It's very strange to me.
This is amazing. i hope more places will do this，I am very thankful for their efforts. thank you recology workers for all you do for the bay area. please keep educating people how to sort. i see weird stuff in the recycling bins especially.
This was super helpful. Waiting for the measure to be on the ballot and I'll vote yes on composting.
Does it have to be law before people in the USA will do it?
I've had a compost pile in the corner of my driveway for many years. I compost food scraps, paper, cotton balls, Q-Tips, canned good labels, 100% cotton clothing, kleenex, cardboard, dog hair, leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, and roadkill. It breaks down quickly, doesn't smell, and is excellent for adding to my gardens. We should all be doing it.
God there's so many plastic bags in there, it's insane. Don't put plastic bags in your compost bin! How hard is it?!
Best part i found a treaserour
this is amazing. i hope more places will do this.
The best channel for learning!
Liberal ideology
I live in Los Angeles and I think everyone would agree we need to support a carbon sink immediately. Excited for 2022 and the prospect of local composting
I bet they can double their volume by processing the human wastes on the streets of SF.
Sick burn!
80 miles east of SF? That's not in SF or the Bay at all; that's roughly the straightline distance from SF to Sacramento (which is probably still a slight underestimate)
Can you make more videos on brewery
Abi is awesome! He loves his job!
Great contact. How profitable is investment right now?
Money is an issue that everyone has a better and luxurious life, life was hard for me until I started trading. And earning $22,000 every months.
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@@raymonddennis9051 This could be the wisest word I've heard you got my points.
Lolol as a Canadian watching this...the green bin program has been going since the late 90's in Nova Scotia and yes all of Canada is supposed to compost. When I visited the states in 2007 to see my sister in VIRGINIA I was FLOORED with putting food waste down the drain for the garberator, food in the trash and throwing bottles in the garbage can because back then in Richmond. VA, there wasn't any recycling program from the city...like...the city....didn't pick up recyclables. Here where I live we have paper recycling, corrugated cardboard recycling, bottle and can recycling, Plastic recycling, glass/container recycling, leaf composting, composting, and garbage collection.
In fact: we actually banned black garbage bags in Nova Scotia ( each household is allowed to put out 6 bags per collection and 1 of them is allowed to be black for privacy). The clear bags make sure that nothing goes where it shouldn't!
Can't we use abandoned open pit mines into compost "bins"?
Take too long to fill and recover the finished product, and the possible risk of fire given its huge size( can you imagine falling in). Plus i suspect the bottom of the pit would become anaerobic( no oxygen) ..like a landfill
I have 2 worm bins (vermicompost) and one normal non-worm compost bin.
In a normal compost, it needs a lot of oxygen , which means either manually flipping over and turning the content, or force air through it like this San Francisco composting facilities. And we will get compost, which is a carbon that plant roots uses. And amount of carbon dioxide released is smaller too.
In a landfill, the garbages are stacked up and it becomes anaerobic (no oxygen) and organic content will instead becomes methane, which is 25 times worse greenhouse (compared to carbon dioxide)
@@nikmohamed5906 capture that methane to be used in whatever form you can use it.
@@jonathanjones3126 yes. In some landfill, the biogas in the form of methane are collected, and then purified by removing water vapour
, and then finally the methane is, used as fuel to produce energy
Thank you 🙏
Why tf is there so much plastic in the bins ????
Because people in California are horrible and careless and the compost company doesn't care about it either.
Go, Abi! Love what you do, whatever it may be!
when you've watched too many depressing documentaries. One from California seems to ease the anxiety quite nicely.
I add about 1 gallon of food waste every week to my compost pile. It's cooking at about 130 degrees now. Will add it to my garden this spring and start all over again.
"alot of people look at this as trash, and for the most part that's what it is... Trash" What an icon
every country need atleast one of this
Its funny how many people in the rural parts of the state dont compost even though it will benefit them to do so.