BART's Tiny Tickets make lasting change CITY INSIDER

Recology's David Nanney stands by a sorting conveyer belt at the company's facility in San Francsico, Calif., on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Last fall, Nanney and other Recology workers began plucking BART tickets out of the unrecyclable bits bound for the landfill, and donating them to the Tiny Tickets program, which allows charities to cash in the tickets. In four months, they raised $1,400, which they donated to the San Francisco Food Bank. Now Recology is planning to extend that effort, allowing people to tape unused BART tickets to trash bin lids, so collectors can gather and collect them, splitting the proceeds between the Food Bank and Friends of the Urban Forest. less Recology's David Nanney stands by a sorting conveyer belt at the company's facility in San Francsico, Calif., on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Last fall, Nanney and other Recology workers began plucking BART tickets ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close BART's Tiny Tickets make lasting change 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A recycling supervisor's commute has spawned a citywide effort that will turn unused BART tickets into cash for two San Francisco charities.

David Nanney, operations supervisor for Recology's Recycle Central, has commuted by BART and Muni to his job at Pier 96 for years. Like many BART riders, especially before the advent of Clipper cards, he collected a large pile of tickets with 5, 10, 15 cents left. One morning at a coffee shop, he spotted a jar for BART's little-known Tiny Tickets program, which encourages people to donate the low-value fare cards, whose value is added up and given to a collection of charities.

Nanney donated his tickets, then started spotting the occasional white-and-blue ticket floating through the collection of conveyor belts and filters that separate recycling. In November, he enlisted the help of recycling sorters, who started snatching the lightweight tickets out of the steadily flowing stream of debris, and putting them in a pile.

"The pile started getting bigger and bigger," he said, so they set up special collection boxes. And in just four months, they rescued $1,600 worth of tickets that had been destined for the landfill. Workers chose to donate the proceeds to the San Francisco Food Bank.

Encouraged by how quickly those little tickets piled up, Recology officials have decided to expand the program by encouraging people with low-value BART tickets to tape them to the blue containers where recyclables are placed. Collection crews will gather the tickets, then place them in a donation box in the Recology office.

Recology will turn in the fare cards to BART's Tiny Tickets program, which will direct the proceeds to the Food Bank as well as Friends of the Urban Forest, which encourages San Franciscans to care for and plant trees.

But won't scavengers, who already root through the blue bins in search of bottles and cans, take the tickets?

"We're not that concerned," said Paul Giusti, Recology's community and government affairs manager. "Folks are after bottles and cans, and there won't be as many tiny tickets. I don't think it would be worth someone's while to collect them."

Dan Flanagan, executive director of Friends of the Urban Forest, is pleased with the new BART ticket collection effort, which Recology touts as its 21st recycling program.

"Recycling is truly amazing," he said, "when it can turn unused BART tickets into trees for San Francisco."

- Michael Cabanatuan

Waste not: Starting Monday, San Francisco residents can drop off their unused medicine at police substations or 12 local pharmacies.

Thanks to grants from drug companies, the unused medicine take-back program allows residents to safely dispose of old prescription drugs.

"Medicine that gets into our water can wreak havoc on our natural environment, from changing the reproductive cycle of fish to increasing antibacterial resistance among humans," Melanie Nutter, director of the city's Environment Department, said in a news release. The program is being run in coordination with the Police Department and the city's Public Utilities Commission.

To find the closest drop-off location, go online to sfenvironment.org/recyclewhere, and select "medicine" in the drop-down menu.

- Kristen Go

This week's news

Monday: To celebrate cherry blossom trees' 100th anniversary of being in the United States, Mayor Ed Lee, Japanese Consul General Hiroshi Inomata, and Rec and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburgwill plant young cherry blossom trees around the city. One of the sites is the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park at 3 p.m.

Wednesday: Share your ideas on how to balance the city's budget at a town hall meeting with Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisors Eric Mar and Christina Olague from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the county fair building at Golden Gate Park.