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Only a few extra trash bins are needed
By Paul T. Rosynsky
STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND - The next organic lettuce you buy at the Jack London Square farmers market could be the product of remnants from your last meal at Yoshi's.

Through a program that aims to reduce the amount of trash sent to the landfill, more than 50 city businesses have joined a growing trend in waste disposal: turning discarded food into fertilizer.

Spurred by its success in San Francisco and prodded by a voter mandate to recycle 75 percent of waste in Alameda County, Norcal Waste Systems is using its food waste recycling program to rapidly turn entrepreneurs into environmentalists. "Environmentalism is not just something practiced out in the remote areas, it is occurring right here in the heart of the city," said Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, a leading booster of the effort. "You just can't keep taking stuff out without putting it back in."

Armed with green trash bins and buckets of organic produce, representatives of Norcal Waste Systems touted their innovative program during a celebration at Yoshi's on Friday marking the company's rapid entrance into the city's trash business.

The program began five years ago in San Francisco, after more traditional methods of recycling such materials as glass, plastic, and paper became commonplace among businesses and homeowners. Trying to reach a state mandate of having more than 50 percent of its trash recycled, San Francisco and Norcal launched a program that currently takes 150 to 180 tons of waste a day to the company's compost site in Vacaville.

The company has similar goals in the East Bay and used Friday's celebration to help convince skeptical business owners it is not a hard program to adhere to. Rather, it is just a matter of having a few extra trash bins in a kitchen or stock room and a manager who diligently watches the staff to ensure waste gets placed in the proper location.

"I was a little bit skeptical when they pushed us a year ago," said Kaz Kajimura, owner of Yoshi's. "But it's easy, you just have to be persistent about it." In addition, Kajimura has saved almost $100 a month on the trash bill.

That is the message Norcal was trying to send to local business as it encouraged more to join the program. "The concept here is to try to save money for each business," said Gary Foss, director of sales and business development for Norcal.