DATA STORY

Recovery Rate

San Francisco's residential and small business material recovered through recycling or composting

Measure description

Refuse is defined as any type of waste that requires collection and transport to a processing and disposal site, including recycled, composted, and trash waste. The Recovery Rate is the percentage of total residential and small business refuse that is recovered through recycling and composting, and therefore not sent to a landfill. It is a key indicator of San Francisco's current recycling and composting practices as it works toward its goal of achieving zero waste. The Department of the Environment is responsible for tracking the performance of this measure as part of its waste reduction efforts.

Why this measure is important

Reporting on the monthly Recovery Rate provides the public, elected officials, and City staff with a current snapshot of San Francisco's progress in achieving zero waste.

The Department of the Environment works with the City's waste management provider, Recology, to bring recycling and composting collection to all residents and small businesses, including those with physical constraints such as limited space or access to bins. The Department also conducts ongoing efforts to encourage recovery by educating residents and employees on how to properly separate materials into the proper bins.

Recovery Rate Dashboard

The interactive chart below presents the City's average workday percentage of residential and small business refuse recovered through recycling and composting.

The chart's legend is below:

Y-axis: Percentage of residential and small business refuse recovered through recycling and composting
X-axis: Calendar year

Note: A recovery rate above the 55% target line is preferred.

How performance is measured

The monthly Recovery Rate is calculated using the following methodology:

Monthly total tons of recycled and composted material divided by monthly total tons of refuse (recycling, composting, and trash).

Recology reports the monthly tons collected for each refuse stream (compostables, recyclables, landfill) minus “residual” materials to the Department of the Environment. Residual materials are contaminants that come from recycling and composting streams that end up being landfilled.

The number displayed on the Sustainability and Climate Action scorecard page represents a fiscal year average of the values in the chart above.

Data notes and sources

All Recovery Rate data comes from the San Francisco Department of the Environment. Data are reported with a two to three-month lag. For example, May's data will be available at the end of July.