Two dumpsters that will be open to the public once a week will be placed in San Francisco’s Bayview District as part of a trial program aimed at reducing illegal dumping.
The pilot program will launch Friday for up to two months with one dumpster at Shafter Avenue and Lane Street, and another at Hawes Street and Gilman Avenue.
The sites will be open once a week from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday to dispose of household items that are not hazardous, according to a statement from Supervisor Shamann Walton’s office, which said the idea was in direct response to community calls for action in reducing household waste winding up in the streets.
Walton said illegal dumping has long been a disproportionate problem in District 10, the supervisorial district he represents that includes the Bayview, one of the most populous neighborhoods for Black residents in the city.
“Bayview deserves the same clean, healthy environment as any other neighborhood in San Francisco,” Walton said in a statement. “This pilot is about listening to residents and taking action. We are committed to gathering real data and real feedback so we can determine what works and build on it.”
The most recent data from the city’s 311 customer service center, which covers 2022 through 2024, shows six other neighborhoods with more calls for various forms of illegal dumping than the Bayview, which had about 41 calls per month.
The most calls were in the combined neighborhoods of Nob Hill, Russian Hill and North Beach, with about 80 calls per month, according to DataSF, the city’s open data service.
But a report from the city’s Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office in October said 311 had notable and persistent problems capturing the true extent of the problem, both because of underreporting in low-traffic areas and the lack of a single category to define illegal dumping.
The annual report doubted the veracity of its own data review, “which shows low 311 service requests for abandoned waste in District 10 even though it is generally accepted by Public Works staff that the Bayview neighborhood, which is in District 10, is the city’s most problematic area for industrial dumping activity,” the report said.
The issue was further complicated by the requirement that Recology address some complaints, while Public Works takes other types.
There is also a lack of enforcement of both city policy related to monitoring known hotspots, and oversight of Recology’s existing obligation to do proactive sweeps of neighborhoods with high rates of dumping.
The report recommended addressing both deficiencies.
The Bayview dumpsters will be serviced by Recology. Forms for disposal of large appliances can be found at recology.com/sfbulky.
Hazardous waste that will not be accepted includes items such as batteries, paints, and chemicals such as pesticides and household cleaners, among others.
The San Francisco Department of Public Works will audit nearby households and businesses during the pilot program to ensure they are not reducing their own required waste disposal, according to Walton’s office.
The pilot program will collect data and community feedback to determine if it should be expanded or discontinued. Feedback can be sent to the Department of Public Works at volunteer@sfdpw.org.