The City by the Bay is inching closer to its landfill diversion goal. Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office recently announced that San Francisco posted a 72 percent recycling rate in 2007, up from 70 percent a year earlier.

The city has set a goal of reaching a 75 percent landfill diversion rate by 2010.

Newsom’s office attributes the increase to a rise in the recycling of construction and demolition material, as required by a 2006 city ordinance. “By requiring builders to recycle debris from construction projects, we were able to divert tens of thousands of new tons of material away from the landfill,” Newsom said in a press release. “Clearly, mandatory recycling measures pay off; if we’re going to reach a recycling rate of 75 percent in 2010 and zero waste by 2020, we need to make sure that residents and businesses are taking full advantage of our composting and recycling programs.”