If you think of Recology as a set of blue, green and black bins that hang out in the alley of your house that you roll out to the curb weekly — you have no idea. Over the last 10 years, what San Franciscans have been thinking of “garbage collection” has been transformed into something vastly different and much more industrial. Last month the 91-year-old worker-owned company announced that 80 percent of what San Franciscans put in the bins is going somewhere other than the landfill, a vast improvement on the 34 percent national average. The 650 tons a day of recyclables hauled by Recology is divided up almost entirely by hand, by a vast army of sorters.
Author Archives: Hannah Miller
Hannah Miller is a writer, ecologist, and social change agent (because we all are) living in San
Francisco. She writes about sustainability, healthcare, and the media
and helps independent arts and culture organizations flourish. Check out my site to see what I've worked on - I love contributing and volunteering on other projects.