Last night, San Francisco voters rejected a proposal that would have put the city's garbage and recycling service out for competitive bid.  The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected with 76% of the voters opposing the measure.  

This is major victory for Recolocy who has exclusive rights to the service in the city.  These rights go back 80 years ago to a system that created a large number of permanent waste licenses.  Over time, through consolidation and business closures, those rights are now exclusively held by Recology.  Predecessor companies that passed along the rights included Norcal Waste Systems, Sunset Scavengers and Golden Gate Disposal.

The proposal would have split the garbage contract into five sections - residential, commercial, recovering and processing of recyclables, and transportation.  The same company would not have been allowed to hold all of the contracts.  The local Board of Supervisors would have also been given the ability to set garbage rates in the proposed measure. 

The vote was not considered a surprise.  The proposal was rejected by major labor unions, business groups, community organizers, and environmentalists.