Recycling in San-Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — How do you throw away a cup of coffee in San Francisco? You take the lid off and put it in the recycle bin. The soiled cup goes in the compost bin. Nothing goes to a landfill. That’s the law.

San Francisco residents pay less per month for their recycle and compost bins than they do for their landfill bins. It’s a financial incentive to encourage participation.

  • San Francisco Department of the Environment creates policy, develops outreach and education programs and deals with policy compliance.
  • San Francisco Department of Public Works oversees the residential refuse rate.
  • Recology is a privately owned company that contracts with the city to haul garbage. It has a monopoly on San Francisco garbage collection as it holds all the permits issued by the City’s Refuse Collection and Disposal Ordinance of 1932.

“A lot of city governments have contentious relationships with their haulers,” said Julie Bryant, a zero-waste coordinator for the city. “We know we can try and experiment with a lot of things because Recology is going to be here for a long time. The partnership with them is one of the keys to our success.”

The Valley has a more competitive market, with several big-name waste haulers such as Waste Management and Republic Services operating side by side.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/food-waste/2017/08/03/san-francisco-mandatory-composting-law-turns-food-waste-money/440879001/

Frozen

It seems like everyone is feeling frozen right now.  It is OK to feel frozen, this is what your therapist would say, because this is a simmering time before you start boiling or doing things.

We are going through a natural progression of things. There are new developments, the new and familiar things to do in the near future.  Keep praying, keep staying occupied and positive and we will get through this in a better shape then when we started it.

I had this thought today, I can do this better.  I can do this better.  I can learn how to do this better.  I can learn how to do this better.

Exercises

Here are a few exercises for you to download.  Keep your energy moving and feeling positive.  Do these exercises every day, a few times a today.  Be gentle and respectful to your body. These exercises are very easy to do.  They are very nurturing.  Download this pdf file and feel better.  This is a free gift from me to you.  Feel better my friends.

Grounded

You are grounded.  We all heard that before. What does it mean to us as of right now? Almost all of us are grounded: children, adults and elderly.  How to use this incredible situation to our advantage? How to benefit from being grounded? How to improve our communities, families, work environments by being grounded?  One way to do this is by promoting self-discovery, self-recognition and self-love.  Accept this incredible living situation by feeling blessed and supported by Mother Nature and God.  

Every person has time to meditate, to contemplate, and to conduct self-discovery.  I know those are big words. Let’s find something small to think about in the mist of it.  Let’s think about how we eat, especially when we are single.  I’m sure a lot of single people are watching news or something and eat at the same time to stimulate their senses.  There is nobody to talk to; it is hard to focus on food.  This is how bad it is right now in the world.  People have hard time focusing on themselves.  They need somebody to distract them or they will become depressed and overeat every time.  They do not like what’s happening outside. They cannot except it.

For example, there are some news coming out of post-quarantined China displaying the high divorce rates.  We do not want to see these patterns in US or in any other country.  Divorces are very expensive and overrated.  In most cases when people get married they believe in forever together. We have to believe in that and work hard on our marriages.  Only time will tell if a marriage is successful. There are ups and downs in life and in marriages.

Exercise:

Let’s go back to the improving our eating routine. Turn off all your devices that are making noises and voices. Before you start eating take a close look at your plate; admire your plate. Smell the beautiful food. Chew slowly.  Use your senses to smell and enjoy the food.  Eat normal portions to let the food digest properly.  Leave the table a little bit hungry.  Look at your children this is what they do subconsciously.  Children usually do not overeat, they leave the table early.  Learn from them how to eat normal portions.  Breath, seep your favorite hot tea after an amazing meal.

Mistakes

Right now, it is very important to make less mistakes because they could be life-threatening mistakes. How to make less mistakes? There are opportunities around us that help us to make less mistakes. One of the opportunities is “to stay home guideline” from authorities. It came to us as a guideline. It means as a citizen you can do it or not; it is up to you. It means you are a decision maker. When we make decisions, we could make mistakes.

Do you want to be smart about your decisions? I assume you do. So, what do smart people do? Smart people learn from other people mistakes. This is why they are called the smart people!

Dynamics

How do you feel today? What is on your mind? Do you feel overwhelmed, confused, or balanced and grounded? Where are you in this range of emotions? We listen to News. What type of news are you focusing on? Drama news or making progress news? Where do you see yourself in two weeks? What are you doing every day? Where do you want to be in one month? What do you want to feel in one month?

Are you doing your part to stabilize the situation in the world? Or you are panicking every day and shaking up your household? We are interconnected. This is the fact, we (humans) are interconnected. To stabilize the situation we have to be confident about positive outcome. We have to feel connected within our communities in a positive and supportive way. We have to do little things for each other every day; the good things, the supportive things. Say “Hi” to your neighbor in a safe, compassionate way. Communicate with a family member nicely. Do little things; smile, hug, compromise, be respectful.

Sustainability

This is the time to look back and rewind our lives. This is the time to rest and to breath. We have all this time to figure out how to move forward to sustain this world. Nature forces us to stop and to look back. Nature is trying to tell us to look for solutions to get back to the good life. These current virus crisis teaches us a huge lesson; we have to turn around 180° from the direction we were going. This is not just one country, this is the whole world that was moving too fast going where?

Competition is overrated. It wears us out; it kills our spirits; it leaves us empty and disappointed. When the message is “sustain this planet to survive” there is no place for competition. We have to rethink our mission statements and purposes in order to move forward to survive and prosper. Businesses that are based solely on competition will fail drastically one by one. Reputation is so important right now more than ever before. Today’s investors are very intelligent people they are reading, looking, thinking before they invest in companies.

Goodwill, professionalism, high spirits, compassion, intelligence, and education will move this planet forward to the great horizons. This is the time to pause; to breath; to look around and to become more compassionate, kind, and giving.

All businesses, especially corporations have to look closely at their sustainability and environmental protection programs to ensure they are for real and produce results. The next generation of investors will be looking at the companies’ sustainability and environmental protection programs closely because all these investors have children and they want to live in the clean and prosperous planet that is free of infections, disasters, and fears.

The good news is it is not too late to turn 180° around! We still have our planet breathing, struggling, wanting to help us to live and to love.

Wake up with a sunrise

We live in a strange time right now. People are very stressed and are not well organized. They are very emotional and vulnerable right now. It means they eat and drink more than they need. They stay home and watch news all the time which is very unhealthy. Or they have very stressful jobs. Please take a look at your eating routine right now.

Wake up with a sunrise. Have a hearty breakfast. Take your time to cook your meal. Enjoy your breakfast very much. Eat slowly; think about your breakfast when you eat it; do not watch or listen to anything at that time; really focus on your breakfast.

Find things to do during the day. A lot of folks volunteer by making masks or other supplies for doctors and nurses. Some restaurants make food for doctors and nurses and other essential workers in the areas where they live. Connect to those people if you know you can help. Clean your house every day; communicate with other family members; try to be supportive and calm. Please be patient with children and members of the family who are more vulnerable to the current situation. Stay strong.

Your lunch is as much important as the breakfast. Be sure you have time to prepare your lunch and eat it. This is very important to have enough time to chew your food slowly, enjoy it and focus on it. By doing so, you support your body at such stressful times that we live right now. You can tell yourself, I’m doing everything I can to support myself in this situation. You support your immune system by staying strong and focused. This is the goal to support your body and protect your body as much as you can right now. If you cannot protect and support yourself you cannot help anybody else.

Keep your dinners to a minimum; drink lots of water and hot tea. Focus on your feelings about the food, be sure you are still a little hungry when you leave the table. A lot of people overeat during the night hours and cannot sleep after that. This technique (leave the table feeling a little bit hungry) is very crucial to practice, if your goal is to stay healthy. It will help you to protect your immune system. After the first week you will feel some progress. Your immune system is going to be much stronger in a month for sure if you keep going.