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How San Francisco’s “trash detectives” are working to catch litter bugs
In someone’s bags of illegally dumped trash, Ramses Alvarez’s team just found a lead: a name with an address.
San Francisco, like much of America, is blighted by litter. Alvarez supervises public works employees in the city, who act as “trash detectives,” rooting through mounds of rubbish, block by block and bag by bag. They’re looking for evidence tying the trash to the trasher.
The goal of the program is more than just cleanup — it’s also about accountability. Fines for perpetrators can reach $1,000.
“It happens 24/7, 365. There’s always illegal dumping in the city,” Alvarez said. “It’s not OK to use the city as your trash can.”
On a national scale, there are an estimated 50 billion pieces of litter on U.S. roads and waterways, according to the 2020 Keep American Beautiful national litter study. That’s an estimated 150 pieces of litter for every person living in the country.
“A trashed environment sends a powerful message, and it’s not a pleasant one psychologically or socially or physically,” said Dr. David Spiegel, a psychiatry professor at Stanford University.
Spiegel says the trashing of America breeds social isolation, which is linked to depression.
San Francisco alone generates 5,000 tons of trash per day. Recology, one of the city’s waste disposal companies, collects and separates most of it into three categories: landfill, recycling and compost that gets sold to fertilize nearby farms.
But 18,000 tons of trash end up getting dumped on city streets every year, according to city officials.
On resident Joffrey Simpson’s corner, garbage is a given. It’s one of 30 hot spots for dumping just in his neighborhood. Simpson says he doesn’t know who is doing the dumping, but it’s a constant nuisance.
In a 2024 LawnStarter survey of America’s dirtiest cities, New York City’s “living conditions” were ranked the worst, followed by San Francisco and Jersey City.
In San Francisco, many people dump their garbage illegally to dodge trash collection fees paid by most owners and renters.
Recology employee Robert Reed believes everyone should do their part.
“We all generate garbage. We all have a personal responsibility to take care of it, to put it in the right place,” Reed said.
Back on the streets, Alvarez and his team come across a pile of trash with no leads. Whoever it belongs to will get away with it — “until next time,” one worker says.
And next time could be right around the corner.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.