Recycling in Multifamily Dwellings

Challenges, Opportunities, and Tips

Local Government Challenges and Opportunities

Below are some of the ways communities can establish programs and policies to assist recycling efforts in multifamily dwellings:

Pass a local ordinance requiring residents of MFDs to recycle. In 1995 the City of Malibu established a resolution requiring MFD residents to source-separate their discards and participate in a recycling program. This ordinance states:

“All persons residing in multifamily dwellings and commercial premises within the City shall comply with the following:

A. The recyclable materials [newspaper; magazines; cardboard; phone books; high grade paper; glossy paper, envelopes; junk mail; glass food and beverage containers; aluminum and tin cans, foil, and pie tins; bi-metal cans; #1, #2, and #3 plastic bottles; and metal coat hangers] identified in Section 4 (A) of this Resolution shall be segregated from other refuse and stored in the recyclable containers provided for that purpose by the collector...”

Pass a local ordinance requiring management of MFD complexes to offer recycling services to their tenants. One of the only ways to identify individual residents of MFD complexes who do not recycle is to sort through trash for recyclables and find an item that reveals the identity of the disposer. Communities may find it easier to enforce an ordinance mandating recycling at MFDs than to enforce one aimed at individual residents.

A Portland, Oreg., ordinance requires MFD complexes to establish recycling programs that collect scrap paper, newspaper, and three other materials. Studies by the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services revealed the proportion of complexes with no recycling program dropped from 10 percent in 1995 to 2 percent in 1996 as a result of the ordinance.

Require hauling companies to offer recycling services to MFDs. Communities can require hauling companies to provide MFD recycling services by ordinance or by contracts and franchise agreements. The Tehama County Sanitary Landfill Agency’s franchise agreement with GreenWaste requires GreenWaste to provide its MFD trash customers with recycling and yard debris collection at no additional cost. The company must provide carts and bins for trash and recyclables and must accept certain materials for recycling.

Pass a local ordinance that includes requirements in building codes that new development and renovations of MFD properties include provisions for recycling. Apartment residents and managers often have difficulty implementing recycling programs because of lack of space. Older buildings and facilities were typically designed assuming discarded materials would be handled as a single (trash) stream. Older facilities may not have sufficient space on loading docks and in storage areas for multiple receptacles.

Modern recycling and waste reduction programs can require sorting of materials into multiple fractions. These problems will gradually disappear after revision of building codes requiring provision for recycling in new construction and during renovations.

The California cities of Agoura Hills, Fresno, and Santa Monica have enacted such ordinances. Chapter 12, article 3, section 12-306 of Fresno’s Municipal Code reads in part:

“The following property development standards and special standards of practice and regulations shall apply to all land, buildings, uses and structures in all districts...

50. Accessible on-site recycling facilities are required to be included in any development project for which a special permit is required, and in any residential development project where solid waste from five or more dwelling units is collected at a centralized location. The following requirements apply to on-site recycling facilities:

a. Areas used for collecting and loading solid waste shall include adequate, accessible, and convenient areas for collecting and loading recyclable materials. Recycling areas shall be located so that they are at least as convenient as the locations for solid waste for the depositing, collecting, and loading of recyclable materials placed therein. Wherever feasible, areas for collecting and loading recyclable materials shall be adjacent to solid waste collection areas...

i. Signage is required to clearly identify all recycling and solid waste collection and loading areas, and the materials accepted therein. This signage shall be placed at all points of direct access to the recycling areas and on, or adjacent to, the recyclable materials containers.”

Institute incentives for MFD residents, building management, and/or waste haulers that provide recycling services. Because waste disposal companies usually bill the management directly, MFD residents may not see reduced costs associated with increased waste diversion.

One way to reward residents of MFDs with successful programs is to provide recycling credits on bills for other municipal services, such as municipal water or electric service. While such a system could not reward tenants based on their individual recycling efforts, tenants would receive a savings related directly to the building’s recycling progress. The potential for further rate reductions may increase peer pressure on non-recyclers to participate.

Some communities provide incentives to building managers to establish, improve, or promote recycling. For example, Seattle’s “Friends of Recycling” volunteer program trains individuals who then champion recycling within their buildings. The volunteer can be either a resident manager or a tenant. Seattle issues an annual $100 rebate on trash bills to the management of buildings with Friends of Recycling volunteers.

In communities with franchised or contracted haulers, incentives can become a way to increase hauler commitment to recycling. San Jose pays its recycling contractors an incentive fee for each ton of recyclables they market to end users. Another community offers lower franchise fees to haulers that meet threshold recycling goals.

Provide recycling services directly to MFDs. Communities may choose to provide recycling services directly to MFD tenants if contractor prices are too high.

For example, East Orange, New Jersey, hired one contractor to provide alternating week recycling services to single-family residences and small MFDs. The city hired another contractor to collect trash from all residences, both single- and multifamily. City employees provide separate weekly recycling collection service to complexes with 50 or more units. By providing the services directly, the city can more closely monitor recycling progress among its MFDs. They can effectively target educational resources where they are most needed and collect more frequently.

Provide educational materials (posters, signs, how-to brochures) or hands-on assistance to MFD residents and building management.

Recycling outreach and education are critical to program success. Most MFD management does not have the time or expertise to develop their own recycling outreach materials or design the most efficient system for collecting and storing recyclables. Communities that distribute outreach materials regularly will supply residents and management with timely, correct information.

By providing on-site assistance, communities can share expertise gained by working with other MFD programs. For example, a community representative may be able to suggest alternate containers for use in buildings with insufficient space for standard recycling containers.

Develop a program to identify new residents. To avoid potential contamination problems, recycling coordinators should identify new residents quickly and provide them with recycling guidelines. Central Contra Costa designed a phone book insert about its recycling program. New residents receive the insert with their phone book when phone service is set up. The City of Davis also identifies new residents by monitoring phone service accounts. The city sends its “Garbage Guide” directly to every new phone service customer in the city.

Encourage landlords to require recycling in leases. In San Jose, the trash and recycling contractor’s staff developed model lease agreements for MFDs. The agreements covered recycling policies and encouraged MFD management to adopt them.

Deny recycling and/or trash service if complexes consistently set out contaminated materials. Contamination of recyclables can lower the value of materials or make them unusable. The few who recycle incorrectly-contaminating recycling bins with the wrong items or throwing away recyclables-can greatly influence others. This is especially true in buildings with common recycling areas. Penalizing complexes that do not recycle correctly gives management and maintenance staff an incentive to monitor and reduce contamination.

A local recycling ordinance in East Orange, N. J., allows the city to fine apartment management and/or discontinue both trash and recycling services for failure to comply with the city’s requirements. If city collection service were discontinued, management would have to pay a private hauler. This is a strong incentive to recycle, since city property taxes include collection costs.

Tips for Replication

• Involve residents and complex management in program planning and implementation.
• Provide waste reduction education and information to new residents when they first move into units.
• Provide clear, simple explanatory materials.
• Use multiple means of getting the message out-including tenant meetings, newsletters, lease clauses, posters celebrating achievements, and direct mailings.
• Re-educate whenever programs change. For example, hand out flyers whenever new materials are added.
• Use volunteers in the building to communicate with other residents about program difficulties and successes.
• Make resident participation simple and convenient and reward it.
• Require that residents recycle through their lease agreements.
• Provide ongoing support to complex management, including technical assistance and outreach materials.
• Ensure management support and long-term commitment.
• Pay attention to the needs of your collection staff; they are an important element in a successful recycling system. Be open to letting workers create systems that work for them, and listen to their concerns.
• Provide feedback. Mail residents letters and talk to them.
• Mandate waste reduction program availability and participation.
• Require haulers to provide recycling service to MFDs.
• Create a mechanism for encouraging owners or managers of buildings to comply with recycling requirements.
• Consider using municipal employees to implement the program because of the opportunity for increased oversight.
• Show owners that they can realize big savings through recycling.
• Educate building owners. Owners can only use services they know about.
• Produce educational materials using simple graphics.
• Produce educational materials in multiple languages if some of the MFD residents do not speak English.
• Be persistent. Maintaining high diversion levels at multifamily homes requires ongoing efforts from recycling coordinators and building managers.

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Last updated: October 26, 2007