Last week we introduced the concept of utilizing a baler at multi-family properties as a strategy to reduce overage fees and potential monetize the waste stream. The word baler often brings up images of fields and endless bales of hay.
However, separating a product and sending it to be recycled is a strategy that warehouses have used for decades. Long ago, warehouse operators realized that those stacks of boxes, paper, plastics, or metal when separated can provide higher return from recyclers then sending them materials that need to be sorted. The bale of recycling material is no different then the bale of hay, it is simply mechanically compressed into a shape and size that makes it easier to handle, store, and transport.
Balers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, designed to meet different business needs.
Vertical Balers are designed to handle small to medium volumes of waste and can be operated by a single person
Semi-Auto Horizontal Balers are designed to handle high volumes of materials
Stockroom Balers are smaller balers designed with space in mind to handle smaller volumes, and are often found at retailers
Multi-family properties, pre-covid had already begun to realize the impact of online retailers such as Amazon on their properties. Large apartment communities can easily accumulate hundreds of boxes each week. The initial impact was overwhelming onsite mailrooms, leasing offices, and maintenance areas. Suddenly architects began building in receiving rooms and online retailers began to provide alternative delivery options.
In some cases we declared victory, or at least a truce with the battle of the boxes. But in March that all changed and that influx of cardboard increased dramatically as our residents found themselves locked down, unable or unwilling to venture out for everyday items including groceries and consumables. This was further reinforced by inventory shortages at brick and mortar stores. Whether our residents were prepared or not, they adjusted to an online, home delivery world. This trend provides convenience and greater choice and has the potential to remain, even when we return to a post-covid state.
While we quickly began to address the front of the house, often the impact on the back of the house is not realized. All of those boxes, once opened, typically end up in your dumpster. Even if you offer recycling and they are placed in the correct container, the tendency of residents to not break down these containers leads to large pockets of air in the container and quickly overflowing the container. In many jurisdictions, that may result in overage fees or at a minimum an unsightly dumpster area.
Recycling cardboard is one part of the solution, every one ton of recycled cardboard eliminates 9 tons of landfill space and can save 46 gallons of oil, 4000 kW of electricity, 17 trees, and 7000 gallons of water. For manufacturers, using recycled cardboard only takes 75% of the energy needed to make new cardboard and produces 50% less sulfur dioxide then making cardboard from virgin materials.
However, as the example of unbroken down boxes provides, cardboard can take up a lot of space, and in real estate space is money. Often we are locked into the available space for back of the office operations such as waste stream management, making space management critical.
This is where the vertical baler can shine however, in taking a relatively small footprint and compacting materials for easier storage and transportation, the use of a baler for cardboard may be a viable option for many apartment communities, particularly in light of the increased amount of cardboard making its way onto our properties.
In one case study, a 550 unit property in New York saved 3,000 square foot of space formerly used to store boxes by using a vertical baler. The bales generated from approximately 100 boxes per bale are then sold to recyclers, actually generating revenue instead of generating expense. This not only helped offset the cost of the baler, but also reduced the landfill waste expense by thousands of dollars each month and drastically reduced overage fees.
How do you know if a baler is an option for your property? A conversation with your local waste management expert can help determine what your options are and if this is a viable option for your property. Many baler manufacturers will be happy to provide a no-cost evaluation and bid complete with an estimated calculation of your return on investment.
Have any of you placed balers at your multi-family properties? We can all learn from each other through a conversation to avoid reinventing the wheel. I look forward to your comments and direct inquiries.
One publishing note, Convolution will be moving to a bi-weekly publication schedule starting with this issue. This will allow me time to start on an other blog that I have been wanting to launch focused on the other side of environmental impact reduction, energy and water impact. The built environment is responsible for 39% of the worlds carbon emissions. My new blog 39% will focus on multi-family real estate and what specific strategies exist to impact that 39%. I hope you will join me on both journeys.
Stay well!