San Francisco teaches Portland a recycling lesson

First it was electric cars and dealerships; now it’s another sustainability competition: recycling. Portland and San Francisco are once again competing to be the nation’s leader in sustainability, but one city is clearly emerging as the victor very early on in the race.

High profile mayors Sam Adams (of Portland) and Gavin Newsome (of San Francisco) have been far from shy when it comes to making claims of being the best. Not long ago, Newsome announced San Francisco would be the electric car capital of the world. Shortly after, Adams responded by proclaiming San Francisco’s efforts as great, but openly declaring that Portland would be the “nation’s hub for yet one more industry [electric cars] of sustainability.”

As heated and intense as the competition has gotten, both mayors understand the purpose of the bickering and claim making: to set an example and inspire cities nationwide to combat climate change. Well, the newest recycling competition between the two cities will hopefully inspire other cities to jump on board, but those that do so should maybe watch San Francisco more closely than Portland.

San Francisco set a lofty goal of recycling 75% of its recyclable material discards by 2010 and 100% by 2020. Currently, San Francisco sits at 72% which is a jump of 2% in just about a year. Portland on the other hand has similar plans, but a very different timeframe. According to Portland’s city web site, Portland would like to have a 75% recycling rate by 2015, putting them about 5 years behind San Francisco’s schedule.

Both cities are pushing very different efforts which could potentially be why Portland is struggling to keep up. In 2006, San Francisco put a mandatory Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery Ordinance on the city. The Ordinance is helping to keep the tons of debris that are used and destroyed at construction sites away from the landfills.

Portland is running a more half-hearted attempt by setting a goal of only a 75% recycling rate at its construction sites.

Additionally, Portland launched an effort to recycle electronics, but the effort may prove to do more harm than good. When the campaign first started, Portland had only good intentions. Now, Portland’s collectors cannot keep up with the high demand of materials and electronics that are starting to stock pile at certain locations because of the limitations Portland had to set up to reduce the amount of goods coming in.

Both cities are setting the bar extraordinarily high for the rest of the nation, but San Francisco, from the start, has had a clear plan that has translated into success.