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Department launches neighborhood-based 0 Waste Community Council pilot in Chinatown
Summary
The Department of the Environment briefed the commission on a pilot Community Council to address zero-waste barriers in Chinatown and other dense, multifamily neighborhoods; staff said the pilot will build local solutions for recycling, composting and outreach.
San Francisco’s Department of the Environment told the city’s Environment Commission it is piloting a neighborhood-based Zero Waste Community Council in Chinatown to find hyper-local solutions for recycling and composting in dense multifamily buildings.
Kevin Drew, the department’s residential and special projects coordinator, described on-the-ground site visits with Recology route supervisors to identify “the very last most difficult spaces” where recycling and composting do not reach tenants. "It's not just in Chinatown, it's all over the city, where we're trying to figure out how to get to the very last most difficult spaces to offer recycling and composting to everyone," Drew said.
Outreach manager Donnie Olivera said the council will bring together building owners, property managers, community-based organizations, residents and businesses to surface barriers and test solutions. Vice President Sarah Juan, who proposed the pilot, explained the model draws on a community-led, place-based approach used in violence-prevention work to create shared problem-solving teams.
Public commenters and commissioners welcomed the approach and urged the department to document outcomes for replication. Director Deborah Raffel said staff will pilot the council, gather lessons and aim to scale successful tactics to other neighborhoods if effective.
Next steps: staff will finalize council membership and invitations, run the Chinatown pilot and report back on lessons learned for possible citywide application.
