San Francisco’s garbage company is trashy in more ways than one. One mayoral candidate says he has a solution.
Former Supervisor and interim Mayor Mark Farrell wants to put the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in charge of Recology, the city’s scandal-plagued trash hauler.
The problem is twofold, Farrell said: San Franciscans are fed up with garbage-filled streets, and Recology’s officers have been indicted for juicing their bills, overcharging city residents $94.5 million that they will repay in a settlement with the city.
Farrell argued that putting the company under the commission’s purview, which has citizen groups that oversee the city’s other utility services, would help solve both problems.
“The unfortunate reality is Mayor Breed has failed in the cleanliness of our streets,” Farrell told The Standard. “There’s no place to put our trash in commercial corridors and our neighborhoods. Trash cans have been systematically removed from our city while our streets have gotten dirtier.”
But Farrell’s plan isn’t a done deal, even if he wins.
Recology’s century-old contract is up for renewal in October. And since its oversight was recently transferred to a ratepayer board after the passage of Proposition F in 2022, a supermajority vote of the Board of Supervisors may be required to tweak some city rules governing our garbage.
Slogging through that process would be worth it, though, because the move will save money for residents, Farrell claims. If the SFPUC oversaw Recology, the agency could bundle garbage rates with other utility costs, which other cities like Seattle already do.
Recology’s relationship with San Francisco has been in flux since the 2020 federal indictment of former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who was found guilty of taking bribes from multiple parties, including Recology officers.
Former Recology Community Relations Manager Paul Giusti arranged more than $1 million in bribes for Nuru. Giusti cooperated with the investigation, sparing him prison time. John Porter, his supervisor, was sentenced to six months of house arrest for signing off on those payments.
In 2021, Recology settled a lawsuit filed by San Francisco and agreed to repay ratepayers at least $94.5 million in overcharges.
In a statement, Breed’s campaign took aim at Farrell for taking a $5,000 donation from a Recology PAC in 2018. Just a week later, Farrell nominated Giusti, who was indicted by the FBI, to a city commission.
“Mark Farrell did nothing to address Recology when he was in office as supervisor or temporary mayor. He doesn’t get to have a plan now, he has a record,” said Breed campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano. “San Francisco’s streets aren’t dirty, Mark Farrell is.”
Since Recology’s rates were moved to a new oversight model in 2022, the Refuse Rate Board has approved rate increases of only 1.33% in 2024 and 2.55% in 2025, which is 36% lower than Recology’s proposed rate increases and will result in $8.7 million in ratepayer savings over two years, according to the mayor’s ffice.
“Following the disturbing revelations of criminal conduct by certain Recology executives, the City acted swiftly and decisively to provide cooperation to law enforcement which resulted in successful convictions and also to impose significant new controls, oversight and transparency on the city’s contracting practices for refuse collection and refuse rate-setting,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Farrell said it’s not enough — the public needs more transparency into Recology.
Despite the scandal, perhaps more pressing on voters’ minds is Recology’s main function: picking up the trash. San Francisco’s streets are infamously dirty, an oft-cited problem in the background of the city’s twin ills of crime and homelessness.
In response to a call-out for questions from The Standard, one reader, Gina G., wrote, “No one is picking up the garbage and the amount of trash everywhere is unprecedented. Even the public trash can near my building has been missing its door for a year, and reports to 311 go unanswered. What is your plan to fix this?”
Farrell’s plan for SFPUC oversight includes pushing for more public trash cans, increasing the frequency of trash pickup, and rolling out a reusable container program to reduce single-use plastic waste. Similar programs are underway in London, Portland, and in some sports stadiums.
Russel Long, a senior advisor with environmental nonprofit Friends of the Earth U.S., said Farrell’s plan to help San Francisco ensure Recology plays by the rules is not just good government; it’s also important to ensure it reaches its environmental goals.
“Recology has had a terrible lack of oversight,” Long said. “Elected officials were their appointed regulators. Obviously, the level of corruption discovered in Recology has been staggering. We need to clean it up.”
Long said the reusable container proposal could join other memorable city policies to clean up the streets, some of which he played a role in, too. In the 1990s he helped then-Supervisor Angela Alioto institute a smoking ban, and he also aided Mayor London Breed’s styrofoam ban during her time as supervisor.
Among the other leading candidates in San Francisco’s mayor’s race, only nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie has published environmental plans. Lurie has pledged to expand bike lane networks, prioritize safe streets, expand electric vehicle charging, and unlock funding for climate action. Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s campaign has focused heavily on cutting down City Hall corruption, including Proposition C, which would create an inspector general position.