Committee approves response to Civil Grand Jury recycling report after Department of the Environment presentation

SAN FRANCISCO — The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Feb. 3 approved a motion to prepare a formal response to the 2019–2020 Civil Grand Jury report 'A Recycling Reality Check' after hearing from the Department of the Environment on outreach and information updates.

Edward Wright, introducing the item on behalf of the sponsor's office, said the sponsor's office had circulated an updated motion and asked the committee to consider it. Kara Gurney of the Department of the Environment described implementation of the grand jury’s three recommendations: publishing the disposition of blue‑bin materials on city and Recology sites, integrating that information into Recology’s mobile app, and publishing guidance on items that do not belong in the blue bin.

Gurney said the department and Recology launched new web pages and app links on July 1, 2021, and the information is available in multiple languages. She described sfrecycles.org as the department’s resource and cited Recology’s Better at the Bin pages as an example of the same material presented with graphics to show material composition and disposition. “San Francisco is a zero‑waste city, and we're leading by example,” Gurney said. She emphasized multilingual outreach, school education and door‑to‑door visits as part of contamination‑reduction efforts.

Chair Dean Preston moved that staff prepare a motion responding to the civil grand jury’s request with the department’s R1–R3 status updates; the committee voted to prepare the motion and then voted to recommend the prepared motion to the full Board of Supervisors. Member Rafael Mandelmann and Chair Preston recorded aye votes; Vice Chair Connie Chan was absent for the roll calls.

The prepared motion will be transmitted to the Board for inclusion on the Feb. 15, 2022 agenda as documented by the clerk.

Why it matters
The committee’s action records the city’s formal, committee‑level acknowledgment that the Department of the Environment and Recology implemented the grand jury’s public‑information recommendations and commits the committee to a transmittal to the Board of Supervisors.