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South San Francisco Scavenger says Brisbane now has three‑bin coverage and growing compost outputs
Summary
Teresa Montgomery of South San Francisco Scavenger Company told Brisbane’s Open Space & Ecology Committee that the city now has three‑bin service citywide, that 592 bin inspections last year found over 80% well‑sorted materials, and that compost and RNG programs helped meet SB 1383 procurement targets.
Teresa Montgomery, sustainability manager for South San Francisco Scavenger Company, told the Brisbane City Open Space & Ecology Committee on Dec. 17 that the company has delivered three‑bin service (garbage, organics, recycling) to every service address in Brisbane to support compliance with California Senate Bill 1383.
Montgomery said the company inspected 592 collection bins last year and found more than 80% of them “reasonably well sorted.” She said crews left educational notices on 110 bins: 90 for minor errors and 20 for major contamination cases, which she characterized as “less than 3%.” Montgomery said in those major cases the material could not be picked up until residents corrected the contamination.
The sustainability manager described the city’s procurement obligation under SB 1383 — not only collecting organics but also buying finished compost and mulch made from recycled organics. “Fifty percent of the state target for Brisbane is met via our food‑to‑fuel program,” Montgomery said, describing an anaerobic digestion system that captures gas, scrubs and compresses it and uses the fuel in Scavenger trucks. She added that Scavenger’s fleet is “carbon negative” because of that program.
Montgomery said Scavenger delivered about 126 cubic yards of finished compost for community giveaways in 2024 and about 550 cubic yards in 2025, which the city and public works used for landscaping and resident giveaways. She noted the company also contributes to a regional compost program that returns compost to agricultural users on the coast.
Committee members and audience participants pressed for clarity on differences between Brisbane’s rules and San Francisco’s sorting requirements after a Chronicle piece on “nine things in SF that don’t belong in the blue bins.” Montgomery said some paper items accepted in San Francisco — such as certain milk cartons and lined paper — are not accepted in Brisbane because Scavenger’s equipment and downstream paper markets are different. “If we ended up with those milk cartons and other plastic‑lined materials in our paper bales, the value of the paper bale would tank,” she said.
On materials labeled “compostable,” Montgomery urged caution: if a product “looks like it’s made all or partially from plastic” it should not go in the green bin, even if packaging claims compostability. She said composters are strict because microplastics in finished compost are now tracked closely.
Committee members asked about operational matters: how locks on carts work in windy or raccoon‑prone areas, whether Scavenger has data on residents downsizing garbage cans as recycling and organics increase, and how much the digester saves on diesel. Montgomery said the digester is not a cost‑saver today — “it’s actually more expensive to do what we’re doing” — and that the company still buys pipeline fuel because production does not meet total fleet needs.
Montgomery invited the committee and residents to a Scavenger public event planned for May 3, 2026 — a compost awareness week event offering facility tours, compost giveaways and outreach — and offered to work with city communications on tailored materials explaining exactly how Brisbane’s rules differ from San Francisco’s.
The presentation closed after audience questions and a short discussion of outreach and reuse pilots; no formal action was taken on Scavenger recommendations. The committee moved on to plan and grant items at the next agenda slot.
