Where No City Has Gone Before: San Francisco Will Be World's First Zero-Waste Town by 2020

[zipplewrath]

12. Great start

I'd bet this could be easily a big part of the 22%. They don't really state if this stuff is by weight or volume, I'd guess weight (they keep quoting tons). Construction debris is VERY heavy. This suggests that although it is a big portion of the weight, it may be a small quantity of material. Makes it easier to sort through and elminate much of the 22%. And since much of it is either asphault or concrete, it can be recycled.

It really is amazing what they are accomplishing here. I hope they don't get overly focused on the "zero percent". They've gotten so low, really low, that they should probably start focusing more on the "most undesirable" content, rather than the heaviest or largest quantities.

I'm actually moved to contact our local city commish and see what we're doing in this vein.