By Khalida Sarwari
San Francisco residents are continuing to top recyclers in other cities across the nation, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office.
The city’s recycling rate of 72 percent leads the nation and is up 2 percent over last year’s rate, bringing the city closer to reaching its goal of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010.
“By requiring builders to recycle debris from construction projects, we were able to divert tens of thousands of new tons of material away from the landfill,” Newsom said in a statement.
Newsom’s 2006 Mandatory Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery Ordinance was credited with improvement in recycling material from building sites.
“Clearly mandatory recycling measures pay off; if we’re going to reach a recycling rate of 75 percent in 2010 and zero waste by 2020, we need to make sure that residents and businesses are taking full advantage of our composting and recycling programs,” Newsom said.