The strategies used to get to Zero Waste are practical, cost effective, and with a little planning relatively easy to implement. In fact, several you may already be doing now. If you already some of the strategies in place, look at the effectiveness of the implementation. Can you improve it? Then look at if it works even better when combined with another strategy.
Some of the strategies this week are definitely made stronger when combined with strategies from last week. Combining strategies can add Jet Fuel to your diversion rate.
Recycling
Last week we discussed source separation, this week I want to be sure to bring up the actual strategy of recycling. One of my first blogs focused on why recycle, it is after all one of the foundational elements of waste stream management - reduce, reuse, recycle. Recycling is akin to mining, almost in an inverse sense. The materials have already been harvested, and already been used for some initial purpose. But recycling allows us to harvest those raw materials a second time, and use them again.
As straight forward as recycling seems to be, it is one of the most challenging waste streams, especially in Multi-family residential real estate. According to the EPA, recycling rates at multi-family communities average only about 14%. When multi-family does provide recycling, there are often notorious high rates of contamination - or non-recyclable materials mixed in with the recycling.
From lack of proper recycling infrastructure and lack of resident education or engagement to failure to leverage resources such as door to door collection services and recycling bins that are not easy to access and even harder to control what enters the container, the challenges to a property management team may seem insurmountable. Yet, when residents are polled, the importance of the availability of recycling on site is a persistent item of importance. When combined with ordinances requiring recycling or investors demanding to reduce the impact of their investments, the importance of developing a well thought out recycling plan increases in importance.
Waste Management provided a formula to improve the effectiveness of recycling in the Northwest, “The Four C’s:”
Convenience - it must be as easy to recycle as to throw items in the trash, when confronted with two options, tenants tend to take the easiest path.
Clarity - from signage to engagement strategies, it is imperative that tenants understand how to recycle and what to recycle.
Capacity - containers for both recycling and waste must be sized properly to ensure neither container becomes over filled and by default the waste stream is placed in the container with available space, contaminating the contents. This includes making sure service is also optimized to reduce overflow.
Color - Using color coding can help residents identify what container is for which waste stream, improving clarity as to what goes where.
To those four C’s, a couple other C’s can also be added:
Co-location - when trash and recycling are located in the same location, it provides a path towards convenience
Composting - food is a major contaminate in the residential waste stream contributing to odors, space issues, and actual contamination of the other recyclable materials. We covered the strategy of composting in last weeks blog.
Reuse
When residents have no convenient way to dispose of items they no longer want they often simply throw them in the trash. From shoes, clothing, furniture, appliances, etc. often these gently used items still have serviceable life left. Developing strategies to move the materials out of the waste container and to an organization that can find a new home for them can be an easy diversion strategy. Goodwill is only one example of the many organizations that a community can partner with to develop an alternative path for these materials.
Reuse can also be a solution for the problem of bulk pickup items. With residents come large items such as mattresses and old furniture that can take up valuable trash space. Strategies to include a scheduled bulk pickup service and monitoring of the waste bin collection areas for bulk items can be important strategies in reducing overage fees and improving diversion rates.
One important note - the five strategies discussed between last weeks blog and this weeks blog are actually the 5 strategies that the City of San Francisco has implemented and has led to a diversion rate of 80%. This is a vast improvement from the EPA cited average of 14% and represents a large opportunity to reduce landfill waste stream expenses.
Stay well