San Francisco Leads the Way in Landfill Waste Reduction

San Francisco has been able to divert an impressive 77% of its garbage away from landfills. By 2020, they hope to make that 100%.
How They Do It:Recology, the company that handles all SF municipal waste, works hard to make their process environmentally sound.

1. Businesses and citizens are required to  separate their compostable waste into green waste bins. Offenders may be fined.
2. Garbage is sorted into 16 categories of recyclable materials by newly hired employees.
3. Landfill waste is compacted before transfer by alternative energy fueled rail lines, which reduces fossil fuel use as compared to the transfer of higher volumes by truck.

Green the Holidays: Christmas Trees And More

Which one is fake?

These days, fake trees look just like the real ones. With a strategically placed air freshener, they can smell real too!

An environmental consulting firm in Montreal performed a life-cycle analysis, and here are some of their main points:

Fake
Lifetime: Ideally, forever. The typical faux tree lasts 6 years. These trees can be recycled, but there aren't really any facilities that do it.
Production: Faux trees require a large amount of energy and materials to produce. The average tree is shipped from China and made mostly of PVC plastic-- production of which leads to the release of toxic chemicals.
Cost: $100-$2,000
Other Considerations: If this is really what you want, buy a used tree. Try Freecycle or Craiglist!


Real
Lifetime: 1 season. These can be composted, used as firewood, made into wood chips, etc.
Production: Throughout their lifetime, these trees are sequestering CO2. However, depending on how they are grown, they require water, nutrients, and pesticides. Annual transportation has associated environmental costs as well.
Cost: $20-$80/year
Other Considerations: If this is really what you want, buy locally. If you aren't buying a used artificial tree, then natural is the better option.


Solutions for Hippies
Plant a pine outside your house and decorate it every year. A living tree requires no transportation, and will sequester CO2. It's festive AND environmentally friendly! You could even make your own tree from stuff recycled materials.


Other ways to green your Christmas*:
*Really look at this website. It's comprehensive and well done. The holidays can be so wasteful that there are a million ways you can make it better!

A penguin light bulb ornament, LED lights, and newspaper wrapping

Gifts:
- Wrap presents in old newspaper/magazines and reuse gift bags. Reusable containers like tins and Tupperware are other packing options.
- Give green presents like compost bins, garden seeds/bulbs, and CSA subscriptions.
- Give experiences. Buy someone lessons in their favorite activity or tickets to a show.
- Give homemade gifts. Recipes, food, cookies (mmm), and old photos make great gifts.
- Try the gift of giving. Plant a tree, adopt a bear, feed a child, or fund a cause in their name.
- Send holiday cards electronically.

Decorations:
- Buy your tree locally.
- Use LED Christmas lights. They don't get as hot and use less energy. Lighting timers can also save energy by remembering to turn off the lights when you don't.
- Make decorations out of recycled material. Make use of pine cones, old clothes/accessories, and sentimental items. You can also buy decorations off Craigslist or a used store like Goodwill.

Happy Holidays!

Sidenote: Good thing California voted down Prop 23. Last Thursday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved carbon cap-and-trade regulations. The program, which will begin in 2012, is more strict than RGGI's voluntary cap-and-trade program in the Northeast. California's policy includes all major emitting industries, not just the power sector. 

Waste Fuels an Entire Swedish City

Kristianstad

Kristianstad, a Swedish city of around 80,000, has succeeded in its effort to eliminate fossil fuel consumption. Agriculture and food processing, which generate a large amount of organic waste, dominate the city's industry. This waste is converted to biogas (primarily methane) through anaerobic digestion (AD). AD occurs in landfills, which produces some of the city's biogas. The rest is generated at the local anaerobic digestion facility, which collects waste from farms, industry, and the local wastewater treatment plant.

The resulting biogas:
1. Heats homes and provides electricity: The biogas is incinerated. Some of the heat is used to generate electricity while the rest is distributed around the city through district heating (an efficient method of providing heat to a large population).
2. Fuels vehicles: The biogas is pressurized as compressed natural gas (CNG) and used in municipal, cars, trucks, and buses.

Kristianstad's "The Best Eco-cycle"

Cost
In Germany alone, there are 5,000 biogas plants operating. How many are there in US -- a country where agriculture and livestock cover vast tracts of land? 151. These 151 facilities are mostly limited to the cattle industry and are fed solely with manure. High capital costs and lack of infrastructure are the largest hurdles facing biogas in the US. However, efforts are being made in California and Wisconsin to expand the industry.

In Kristalstad, high capital costs were heavily offset by government subsidies. Either way, biogas has a siginificant payback time. They've cut their annual fuel costs in half, saving around $3.8 million/yr.

Carbon footprint
Methane emissions from manure and landfills are reduced and redirected to energy use. This could reduce a city's greenhouse gas emissions by 2-6%. Remember though, that although waste-to-energy technology doesn't use fossil fuels, it still emits a significant amount of CO2.

Test Driving Cap and Trade

Currently, 10 New England states are participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is a carbon cap and trade system that began in 2008.

Participating States: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont

Quick Description: RGGI auctions off allowances to the power sector, monitors emissions, and fines companies that fail to meet requirements. Companies are permitted to trade credits and purchase additional carbon offsets. Auction money and fines are collected by the states and then invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. Four auctions are held each year. The goal is a 10% reduction of emissions by 2018.

Last year, New York Governor Paterson used $90 million generated from the initiative to reduce state debt. He claimed it was a one-time deal. I hope it is. The state claims that today, 80% of revenue is invested in green initiatives, such as EmPower New York, which funds home energy audits. In a recent auction, New York received $16.9 million. Hopefully, it goes to the right programs.

While RGGI’s failure would kill cap-and-trade forever, its success could be a stepping stone to national policy.

Let’s hope it works.