Covid-19 and the Multifamily Waste Stream
This week in waste... Pay attention to your waste stream, its changing...
This week I’ve been reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 on the build environment. It’s hard to turn on the TV and not hear about the increase in Covid-19 cases across the United States, but have you thought about what that means to your properties.
If your in commercial office real estate, perhaps just more time to plan for the eventual return to the workplace but if your in multifamily real estate, the impacts are multiple and sometimes in hidden places. This shift has meant increase residential activity while commercial waste streams dropped, forcing haulers to adjust routes and often equipment when capacity is stressed.
Other impacts include the waste stream haulers themselves, all five major haulers (Waste Management, Republic, Waste Connections, GFL Environmental and Advanced Disposal) continue to report declines in solid waste revenue, with a significant contributor being the unpredictability of commercial business. This reduction in commercial business is accompanied with 15-25% increases in residential volume, often governed by contracts that limit the ability to adjust to such large increases.
In addition to the economics, the employees of waste stream haulers have been impacted like other workers and labor unions representing those employees are calling for answers around paid leave policies. At one point during the height of New York City’s Covid-19 surge, over 350 sanitation workers had tested positive.
From a market perspective, over 90 cities have suspended residential recycling due to Coronavirus concerns and dwindling availability of labor. Other impacts include bottle bill suspensions, disruption among the recycled fiber market, and changes in policy around single-use plastic bags. Alongside those disruptions, a stark increase in the amount of plastics making its way to the ocean, as plastic gloves, masks and disposable silverware add to march to sea.
For those charged with managing the built reality, the lesson is pay attention. Don’t let your waste stream be something that was installed when the building opened and never thought about again. Just like a stream, it ebbs and flows. It is not a constant flow, but rather a variable flow that is impacted by many factors.
Variation provides opportunity, either opportunity for skilled property managers to adjust as the demand adjusts, or opportunity for the hauler to make more money with less effort when the demand reduces.