San Francisco’s Pier 96 Among World’s Recycling Elite

San Francisco’s Pier 96 is attracting worldwide attention to its recycling plant, Recology, which is one of the world’s most advanced.

“In fact, we’ve had visitors from 58 countries,” Robert Reed, who is a tour guide at Recology, said, according to the New York Times.

Recology, which is been described as the Silicon Valley of recycling, and the Airbnb or Uber of waste management , is located in Bayview-Hunters Point, one of the Bay Areas’s less affluent neighborhoods. Black residents have been experiencing creeping gentrification that is forcing them ou, as business and technological elites come in and purchase residences for higher prices.

Today, San Francisco reportedly diverts around 80 percent of waste away from landfills. The Times notes that this places the city among the elite recycling cities. The Times also notes that Recology is planning to invest another $11 million on upgrading its facility over the next year to handle the influx of packaging resulting from online shopping.

Recology reportedly obtains most of its funding from a monthly $35.18 fee it charges each household for residential trash, recycling and compost.

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.