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Uploaded: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 9:44 AM                                             

Pilot kitchen-waste program receives council OK
Black garbage bins would be eliminated in the experimental project

by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly Staff

Posted by Allen Edwards, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 10:34 am

So what happens to things that are not recyclable and are not food scraps like styrofoam and milk cartons? Maybe they will just sort that stuff out at the recycling plant. Sounds like a great idea though. Hope the pilot program goes well.

Posted by Jeanie Smith, a resident of the Evergreen Park neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 11:09 am

Pick our neighborhood! Please! Nice mix of single- and multi-family residents... :-)

I LOVE this program--I've seen it in operation in Seattle area and other NW cities, and it works great, and reduces actual "garbage" by AMAZING amounts... Well worth the slight effort it takes for people to adjust to using it...

Woo Hoo! Finally, Palo Alto!

Posted by Judith Wasserman, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 11:24 am

Please, sign me up!

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Embarcadero Oaks/Leland neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 12:00 pm

This is a great idea! Can we implement adding food scraps to the yard waste for the whole city now? And I was not aware of the requirement to bag "landfill items such as foil beverage pouches, diapers, bathroom products such as dental floss and hygiene items, and pet waste" although I do it anyway.

Posted by Mr. BBQ, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 12:15 pm

Thank Gosh for garbage disposals!

Posted by moi, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 12:26 pm

@ Mr. BBQ --

The City of Palo Alto isn't too keen on your using your beloved garbage disposal. And for good reason:

Web Link

I stopped using mine years ago and do not miss it one bit. Try without! (Quieter, too.)

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 1:30 pm

Please do not select Duveneck-St. Francis neighborhood for the trial. I oppose this plan and see numerous problems.

Posted by Sandy, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 1:40 pm

I am for the food scraps being in the green can. I also recycle everything I can, but there is still garbage. What are you to do with wood scraps when constructing a new deck? What are you to do with styrafoam, household items (tissue, paper towels) etc.? I feel that there will be some problems with this and that some people will just leave their trash around the neighborhood. We have neighbors whose house is full of garbage and with no garbage cans it is only going to get worse. The plan still needs more thinking through.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 2:07 pm

Not my area, please.

Bagging refuse before putting in blue can, with what? You have banned plastic bags and propose charging for paper? Does this mean now that we have to start buying bags to throw garbage into before putting it in the trash?

I think I will end up taking my trash to the local park, school, store, or somewhere so that I can just dump it altogether for someone else to bother about - not really, but certainly feel like it.

Posted by Douglas Moran, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Douglas Moran is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

Depending on the mix of items currently going into the various carts, this change might be counterproductive. Below is an email I sent to Council on this item

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Council members:

I urge you to impress upon staff the need to do well-designed measurements and ensure that they are prepared to collect this information before this pilot program begins. The information in the staff report is very vague and mentions only having the _capability_ to do unspecified comparisons.

I missed the most recent presentations of the idea of eliminating the black cart, but in earlier ones, what was presented as "typical" was households putting out all three carts every week. This is not what I observe on my street on the nights before pickup.

Although I am NOT typical, my situation illustrates my concern. I live in a small household and put out the recycling cart only when full, which typically is once every 4-8 weeks. I compost most of my soft yard waste myself and put out only branches, vines,... in my green cart. Since these don't rot, I can wait until I have a full cart and thus I put out that cart only once every 2-8 weeks.

If the black (garbage) cart is eliminated, instead of putting out only that one cart most weeks, I will be forced to put out the remaining two every week. The bulk of my garbage is cat litter, which would now go in the blue (recycling) cart. But I will also need to put out the green (compostable) cart because there is almost always some food waste that I will not put on my own compost pile (insects, scavengers, smell).

I fear that the hoped for savings from not picking up the black carts will be offset by increased pickups of the other two carts and the additional expenses of processing those materials.

Posted by Needananswer, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 3:34 pm

Dear Council members, Are we going to have a lower utility bill? Please answer this question before proceed. I am very sure that you have no answer to this question. Hope I am wrong!

Posted by Bike Commuter, a resident of the Ventura neighborhood, on Jan 15, 2013 at 5:47 pm

What is important to remember is not how things are changing from our current garbage program but what are the issues in managing waste in the future?

We'll have to negotiate a new landfill contract in the future so minimizing non-compostable, non-recyclable waste may have huge cost savings for the future.

I look forward to trying to get to "zero" waste. Our family of 4 humans and 2 cats hardly fill our minican now! I work hard at NOT BUYING items that are packaged in non-recyclable containers.

Posted by Unhappy Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, 6 hours ago

In the 18th Century slave women had to wash out their mistresses feminine protection. In the 21st century the rich community of Palo Alto will be forcing poor immigrant women who work at the recycle center to sort through Palo Alto's garbage to pull out women's feminine protection, disposable diapers, animal feces, bandages all items contaminated with bodily fluids, and transfer them for final disposal, this is wrong.

Palo Alto should take responsibility for disposing of these items without forcing those less fortunate to handle contaminated garbage.

Posted by Not an issue, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, 5 hours ago

Unhappy resident-- that sounds like a perfect job for Peter--- sorting through the stuff at the recycle center. After all, a real environmentalist would not hesitate, for the good the planet

Posted by Patrick Muffler, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, 8 minutes ago

i would be less skeptical of this proposal if I knew that the City staff had actually inventoried what currently goes into the black carts. It is a lot more than kitchen waste! I suggest that the City staff get some real data by rooting through a statistically significant number of black carts.