sfenvironment.org

SF State Monitors Reduce Waste--Golden Gate Express

(February 8, 2010)

By Andres Rico,

Waste monitors from SF Environment were posted at several trash bins inside the Cesar Chavez Student Center for the past two weeks as part of the city's initiative to bring down its garbage output to zero by 2020.

The main task of the monitors was to educate students on how to dispose of their waste with an emphasis on mostly composting and recycling rather than heading to the trash bin by default.

Waste monitor Olivia Bagadiong said her help has been warmly received by the students and staff frequenting the various eateries in the cafeteria. She estimated that out of every 10 people she has encountered, eight students are more than obliged to receive a tip or two on how to dispose .

"Sometimes I scare people a lot," Bagadiong said. She wore a gray vest made from recycled materials, the staple of any SF Environment employee. "But I'm enjoying my job."

Bagadiong, who had the black bins covered with old newspapers, was quick to her feet every time students approached with waste, catching most off guard. The monitors are new evidence of a campaign to push mandatory recycling throughout the city. However not all students were pleased with the monitors' presence .

"I think it's a bit silly, people are pretty cognizant but maybe I'm being naïve," graduate student Doug Weihnacht said. Weihnacht is in favor of green methods of waste disposal, but "you can't impose, it has to be a voluntary thing.”

Whether students will continue to separate their waste once the monitors are gone is to be seen, but according to the employees in charge of keeping the student center clean, SF Environment has done its job .

"I think it's a good thing they have been here, knowing how to separate your trash is a must," Gold Coast Grill employee Ricardo Murguía said. "I learned from them that food waste goes in the green one, in the black one goes soft plastic, and in the blue one goes bottles.”

José Zapata, an employee of Café 101, was more than pleased to see the monitors. "I think they have been effective, they work well," he said. "You see how these kids leave the tables, imagine how they leave the bins.”

Both men said they will continue to dispose the waste of the cafeteria as indicated by SF