San José Yard Trimmings Recycling Program
 The City of San José supports the highest and best use of residential yard trimmings by promoting unlimited yard trimmings collection, contract rates that support compost production, and market support through research and outreach programming.
Residential Yard Trimmings Collection
San José residents can set out an unlimited amount of yard trimmings each week as part of the Recycle Plus curbside garbage and recycling program. Clean green yard waste is set out at curbside in carts or loose piles of no more than 5x5 ft. each. This loose material is collected by two drivers, one with an articulated loader with a claw attachment and the other with a Rear Entry Loader. Approximately 30% of the City’s residents use carts for yard trimmings collection. These residents either: live in an area that can’t be collected in the street, or have subscribed to a cart for a subscription fee of $4/per month. The rear loader trucks have been modified with cart tippers in order to handle both loose and cart collection efficiently on the same route.
Currently all of the City’s residential yard trimmings are being collected by Green Waste Recovery and processed by Zanker Road Resource Recovery at their Z-Best composting facility. Commercial yard trimmings and food waste are being collected by franchised haulers and processed at either the Z-Best facility or Newby Island Composting facility. The City’s commercial redesign will result in exclusive collection and processing contracts in 2012. Program design and pilots are taking place to capture added organics towards meeting San José’s Zero Waste goal
Compost Products and Marketing
Current curbside collection in San José results in 177,000 tons of material that is processed into compost or other City approved products. Marketing of the material is the sole responsibility of the contractor, with most of the material being sold to the landscaping and agriculture industries.
San José maintains a policy of highest and best use for all materials collected. Contract provisions stipulate that at least 50% of the material collected must be made into finished compost. Finished compost has been fully composted to achieve pathogen reduction and kill weed seeds. It can be used for topdressing or incorporated as a soil amendment. To support highest and best use of the material, the City does not allow any of their green waste materials to be used as ADC, slope stabilization, or any other use at the landfill.
Other approved products for San José yard trimmings material include the following:
Wood Chips: small pieces produced by grinding reclaimed wood into little bits.
Mulch: decayed wood fiber and chips that have been ground and screened to achieve size reduction. This material is great for surface mulch!
|
