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From Trash to More Cash...

How Recycling Programs Can Work for You

Start or Expand Recycling for Rental Housing and Reduce Trash Costs

It is one of the three R's of the environmental field: reduce, reuse, and recycle. For some people, it's a way of life. For others, it is an annoyance. Recycling is the process of extracting useful materials from waste — perhaps not the most glamorous of industries, but something that has gotten the attention of property owners due to the rising costs of waste disposal. A California bill, known as the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, requires all cities to reduce waste going to the landfills by 50% by the year 2000 and sustain this diversion level. Unfortunately, many cities have not met that goal, and are looking for ways to meet that goal under time extensions and through exponentially increasing rates. One of the relatively untapped gold mines for recycling is the multifamily building. What can you do to reap benefits from this gold mine?

Reduce Garbage Bills and Provide Effective Recycling Services

In the San Francisco Bay Area, many residents of rental housing want to participate in residential recycling programs, and even take great strides to properly return their recyclable materials even when recycling is not offered in their complex. How can you provide a successful building recycling program that can help reduce your garbage bills while meeting resident needs?

Jumping on the recycling bandwagon is easy, but creating a successful program requires a combination of strategies and procedures. Each community is unique, so you will need to work closely with your local hauler to determine the best combination of tools that will work for you. In San Mateo County, BFI-Peninsula provides garbage and recycling services for eleven communities. At no additional cost, the company offers recycling service to rental housing of five or more units in the communities of Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, unincorporated San Mateo County, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, and San Mateo. A BFI Recycling Coordinator can conduct an onsite recycling assessment and meet with the property manager with recommendations. In consultation with the property management and maintenance staff, the Recycling Coordinator offers recommendations on the best locations for recycling containers, training and education materials to tenants and maintenance staff, or other assistance the manager may need. The Coordinator organizes delivery of the recycling containers and changes to the garbage service. Once the container are in place, the Coordinator will follow up with the property manager as needed to address any issues the manager may have about implementation and effective implementation of the recycling program.

Key Tools For Successful Recycling

In addition to working with their garbage and recycling company, property managers can conduct additional activities to increase recycling participation and ultimately reduce disposal costs. Some of the key tools for a successful recycling program are to:

Encourage resident participation. Some methods include creating a volunteer recycling coordinator program, fining or enacting incentives to encourage individual te4nats to participate. An incentive could be that tenants receive a reduction in their monthly payments if the trash bill is reduced through increased recycling. One large complex in San Mateo collects California Redemption Value, or CRV, bottles and cans to return for the refund, which is used for a community project to purchase toys for disadvantaged children during the holidays.

Obtain complete management participation. Property managers and maintenance staff need to be committed to recycling, which can include composting and green waste collection. Volume-based fees are collected for trash, whereas recycling collection is provided at no additional cost in the BFI-Peninsula communities. Therefore, incentives can be created for property managers who can reduce trash bills. One property management company is so committed to recycling that it has included recycling as part of the lease agreement. If a tenant is not participating, the tenant is notified of the violation; subsequent offenses result in eviction.

Make recycling convenient — paramount to successful recycling. Some communities provide an in-unit recycling container to encourage recycling while providing a convenient mechanism for all people to participate. In Foster City, one community has the same number of recycling containers as trash containers near resident parking for easy drop-off.

Ensure there is a sufficient level of recycling containers and recycling service. Some communities do not provide enough recycling container or need more weekly pickups at their property, an indication that recyclables are going into the trash container. You can work with your Recycling Coordinator to ensure an adequate number of recycling containers and to reduce the garbage service for better results, and ultimately savings.

Educate all participants continually and in multiple ways. Posters and clear signage, newsletter articles, and meetings are all tools that can help to educate residents, managers, and maintenance staff. One resource where you can obtain free materials and advice is RecycleWorks, the recycling and composting program of the County of San Mateo. With relative high turnover in apartments, constant reminders will reach new tenants. One example is a new tenant packet used at an East Palo Alto complex, where all new tenants receive a packet containing recycling guidelines and the exact locations of recycling containers.

More Waste Reduction Ideas

Additional ideas for waste reduction include: composting or yard waste recycling if you have lawns, trees, and shrubs; contacting RecycleWorks (in San Mateo County) or your county recycling hotline if you have furniture for reuse or refrigerators to haul away for recycling; and providing junk mail reduction kits each year.

When working with residents, some people are keen on recycling and may make good volunteer recycling coordinators. You can harness their enthusiasm to create a successful building recycling program by working with your recycling coordinator. Some activities that the volunteers can do include placing the containers at the curb on pickup day, monitoring the contamination levels and reporting them to the management, and offering a friendly work of encouragement to neighbors. To further encourage residents to go green, consider starting a Green Team where folks learn to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle by learning how to reduce their solid waste, home chemical use, energy consumption, water use, and auto fuel consumptionÉ while having fun, building community, and saving money.

The Rental Housing Industry Can Make a Big Difference by Increasing Recycling

Rental hosing owners and property managers can have a big impact on recycling and reduce expenses. By starting or expanding recycling programs at each rental property, property owners and managers can help California reach its goal of reducing waste significantly and help the environment. The majority of rental hosing complexes save money on their garbage bill by implementing an effective recycling program.

Sources:

Complex Recycling Issues: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste Reduction in Multi-Family Dwellings, US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-530-F-99-022, October 1999.

RecycleWorks, a program of the County of San Mateo, www.recycleworks.org, (888) 442-2666, info@recycleworks.org.

Green Teams, a project of Acterra, www.acterra.org/greenteams/, (650) 962-9876.

© Copyright 2005 South Bayside Waste Management Authority. All rights reserved.