Q&A with Sacramento County’s new Sheriff, Jim Cooper
Last December, Sheriff Jim Cooper was sworn in at the Sacramento State Ballroom, thereby becoming the first Black Sheriff in the county’s history.
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Why adult education in California shouldn’t be a best kept secret
Adult education programs are free or low-cost and can train people for high-paying in-demand jobs. And in so doing, can change the life of an individual as well as the future of the entire family. So why don’t more people know about their local adult schools?
Know your residents: Why Oakland succeeds in recycling efforts—and how other parts of the state can do the same
The Bay Area has long been on the forefront of recycling—and has served as a state and even national model in terms of starting it early and doing it right. What can other city agencies learn from how the City of Oakland, for example—with one of the most diverse Bay Area populations—created outreach campaigns that work?
A Q&A with Bill Camarillo, CEO of one of the largest organics recyclers in California, about SB 1383
We continue our SB 1383 series—designed to take a deep dive into the challenges and successes as our state takes on significant organic waste recycling in an effort to save landfills and save our planet.
Learn how the new plastics bill will change California
Plastic is everywhere—in our packaging, in our parks, in our oceans and even in our bloodstreams. But SB 54, which Gov. Newsom signed into law in June, is aimed at changing that.
The new organics waste bill doesn’t just change how we dispose of food waste—it also gets food to hungry Californians
Restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels and private households all have food they can’t use, but—with the proper resources—can end up on a hungry family’s table instead of in the garbage.
Senator Ben Allen, author of the legislation that drastically cuts plastic pollution in California, discusses how it came together—and what it means
At the end of June, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54, known as the plastics bill, which requires all packaging in the state to be…
What does Bill Hall think about his new role at SEIU Local 1000? Quite a bit.
Hear from Bill Hall, the newly selected president of the SEIU 1000, on his role with the union and its future.
Heidi Sanborn of the National Stewardship Council discusses why manufacturers must be held responsible for the full lifecycle of their products
‘Product stewardship’ is a not a term most of us can quickly define. But it’s getting increasing attention in the waste and recycling world, as…
Learn how San Francisco is leading the way on California’s organic waste recycling from Recology’s Robert Reed
SB 1383 can see like a big change in behavior that will be difficult to implement. But we have models around the state–particularly the Bay Area–where they are already doing it, for more than two decades.
Under the new SB 1383 legislation, how do we dispose of organic waste—and how close to meeting the 2025 goals are we?
We are collecting organic waste–most of it uneaten food–in a new way. What happens to it next?
Chris Gibbons of the National Center for Economic Gardening weighs in on what cities, business owners and employees really need
Economic Gardening supports existing local business as opposed to ‘hunting’ for outside corporations. Doscpver the philosophy behind it–and its long history of success.
San Jose is a model of how collecting organic waste may look across California—even though challenges remain.
Not all parts of California are the same, of course. There are heavily populated urban centers, rural areas, well-funded cities, small towns that struggle economically….
Dr. BJ Miller is the keynote speaker at an end-of-life conference this Friday in Sacramento
BJ Miller, M.D., has a compelling personal story, and is a practicing hospice and palliative medicine doctor on the teaching faculty at UCSF School of…
Chet Hewitt of the Sierra Health Foundation discusses how—and why—federal and state money should help marginalized communities throughout California
SN&R: Can you give me an overview of the Sierra Health Foundation? Hewitt: The purpose of the Sierra Health Foundation is to promote health and…
Emily Coven of Recyclist provides real-time data to show how California cities are handling the organic waste measure
it is often difficult to make aspirational bills like SB 1383 a reality, especially in cities and counties across the state with varying degrees of resources and populations. Hard numbers give us an idea how the rollout is really going.
Veronica Pardo of the Resource Recovery Coalition of California gives a haulers’ perspective on implementing the organic waste bill
Local haulers will bear the biggest responsibility of SB 1383: namely collecting and disposing of organic waste. What are they already doing? what challenges do they face?