The city of San Francisco is seen as the greenest city in the US and is keen on adopting measures to treat packaging waste as resources, which include plastic bags and glass bottles.
IBM Research said because of the high value of recycled materials, a shift away from 'waste management' and toward 'resource management' is seen as an emerging industry.
San Francisco resource recovery company Recology aims to help the city reach the goal of zero waste by 2020 by helping them record types and amounts of waste, truck routes and other services, in addition to optimizing collection times.
Recology, powered by IBM, has helped to recycle 1.2m tons of paper, 174,000 tons of glass and 135,000 tons of metal, as good as saving 19m gallons of oil, in addition to to acheving a decline in landfill waste by 49.7% since 2000.
Recology's Curbside Compost Collection Program in San Francisco has reduced carbon emissions by over 347,500 metric tons since its inception.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee claimed the success comes from commitment to improve recycling efforts and a better coordination among the concerned authorities.
