There's one in Oakland around Lake Merritt. She's been around as long as I have (15+ years). I've always wondered where she goes at night.
I haven't read the article yet, but I would rather that my trash and recyclables were strictly between me and the processing plant. For one thing, we all throw out paper with loads of exploitable information. Secondly, I am fairly certain the Bay Area sorts its trash after collection, so extracting recyclables earlier in the process isn't really of consequence.