In a press release, IBM and Recology announced a partnership to help San Francisco become the first zero waste city in North America.
As part of the partnership, Recology is using IBM systems to manage and mine large data sets to determine types and quantities of materials in the city's waste stream. These analytics allow Recology to pinpoint waste types that can be collected and diverted for sorting or composting. Recology can then design recycling and composting programs that are most effective in different parts of San Francisco.
Using these methods, Recology has already helped customers in the city to reduce the garbage they send to the landfill by 49.7% in the past 11 years. In real volumes, this translates into a reduction of waste from 730k to 367k tons.
"Cities are struggling with a wide range of challenges and threats to sustainability in their core operations," said George McGrath, Chief Operating Officer at Recology. "Our collaboration with IBM has helped us transform the programs we provide in San Francisco and, in turn, the very way people view bottles, coffee grounds, packaging, plastic bags, and other materials they generate every day."
With a 78% diversion rate, San Francisco is already one of the greenest cities in the country.
"San Francisco continues to make progress toward our Zero Waste goal and we have achieved the highest diversion rate of any major city in the country. Our success stems from a strong partnership with our diverse communities and our commitment to making recycling easy and convenient for everyone. I thank IBM for providing innovative solutions that have contributed to making San Francisco the greenest city in North America," San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said.
