The Benefits of Recycling
- FACT:
- Every year Californians produce over 45 million tons of trash. This
amount is enough to cover the entire City of San Francisco with 2 feet
of compacted garbage. That means that EVERY Californian, including YOUR
residents, are disposing of 8 lbs. of garbage per day.
- CONSEQUENCE:
- Aside from consuming a large amount of landfill space and wasting
the earth’s resources, 8 pounds of garbage per day per person
leads to very expensive trash bills. The more garbage generated, the
more you end up paying.
- SOLUTION:
- Recycle. Garbage collection is charged on a cubic yard basis. To save
money on your waste collection, you must reduce the container size,
quantity, or collection frequency.
 This
means you must divert enough material from the trash stream to make
a difference. This is the simplest solution to reducing your garbage
bill. If you removed all recyclable items (see
recyclable items list) from your trash containers, you would be
surprised to find very little leftover. Food and pet waste, tissues
and soiled paper and a few other non-recyclable items are all you should
see. The remainder can be recycled, therefore allowing you to decrease
the size of the containers and the number of collections per week! Recycling
is the most effective way in which to pay the least amount possible
for your waste services.
BFI offers a new, co-mingled recycling program which allows your residents
to go beyond the traditional means of recycling. Now all plastics #1-#7,
glass, mixed paper, newspaper, cardboard, aluminum, tin and small household
scrap metals can be recycled in the SAME container. This system allows
residents to divert even more garbage to recycling and only takes about
two minutes per day. Gone are the days of sorting a limited amount of
materials.
With assistance from the experts at BFI, you can make financially and
environmentally sound decisions for your multi-family community.
IMPLEMENTING A RECORD-SETTING RECYCLING & WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAM
The four most important factors in the success of the Multi-Family recycling
program are:
- Resident Participation
- Management/Owner Support
- Resident Education, Outreach & Communication
- Feedback
ENCOURAGE RESIDENT PARTICIPATION
Just a few residents who do not recycle correctly, contaminating recycling
bins with the wrong items or throwing away recyclables, can greatly
influence others. This is especially true in complexes with common recycling
and garbage areas. Contaminated and less than full recycling bins, may
send the message that the program is not important. Many communities
have used fines, education, lease requirements, and incentives to encourage
individual tenants to reduce waste and recycle more.
OWNER/MANAGEMENT SUPPORT.
As the owner/manager of a MFC, your participation is crucial to the
success of your recycling program. You set the tone by example. You
communicate to your staff and residents. You provide education and outreach
materials. You encourage compliance and monitor feedback. You are the
connection between your program and BFI.
RESIDENT EDUCATION, OUTREACH & COMMUNICATION
- FACT:
- Continually educating your residents and maintenance staff guarantees
the success and longevity of your recycling program.
- CONSEQUENCE:
- If your residents are not informed or are not given the proper literature,
your recycling program may not be as effective as expected.
- SOLUTION:
- Education is key. BFI will provide you with recycling kits and additional
educational materials to be distributed to your residents during your
MFC launch and throughout the life of the program.
One of the ways that you can show and share your enthusiasm is through
resident education and outreach. If your residents don’t know
about this program, or don’t know how to participate, they won’t!
The goal of your outreach efforts should be to promote enthusiasm
in your residents while educating them on the recycling process.
Be Consistent
Start your education program early and keep it going right through
your kickoff date and beyond. And keep the information the same. People
need reinforcement. They like to be reminded.
Be Clear
Simple instructions and big pictures will effectively communicate your
message. Think of your materials as freeway billboards. Your audience
will have about 15 seconds to look at them. Graphics, photographs, and
arrows are all effective elements to incorporate. Remember that children
and non-readers will rely on graphic elements alone for their information.
Cover the basics
Don’t assume your residents know anything. For many of them, this
may be the first time they are participating in a recycling program. Show
them:
- Why they should recycle
- What materials can be recycled (using the Recycling
Flier included in your start-up kit.)
- What materials can NOT be recycled
- How to prepare the materials for collection
- Provide a site map with the location of the recycling containers
- When recycling will be picked up
- Who to contact for more information
Make It A Team Effort
You are the most integral member of this team. Everyone is looking to
you as the leader and you need to be as learned as possible on the subject
of recycling at your MFC. The following steps will guide you in building
your team:
- Keep your residents informed and enthusiastic by providing consistent
educational materials and additional environmentally-friendly ideas.
- Recruit one or more residents to assist in distribution of educational
materials and watch out for recyclables in the trash.
- Distribute recycling and yard-waste fliers to your maintenance staff
so they know what to watch out for. Sometimes recycling ends up in the
garbage and garbage in the recycling carts. Your maintenance crew is
integral in keeping these separated by making daily checks on the enclosures.
- Your office staff needs to be educated on the program in order to
answer questions posed by residents, especially if you are not available.
- Contact BFI at any time to gather more information or ideas.
An outreach program can be fun. It is a good way to get to know more
of your residents. And it’s a great way for residents to get to
know each other. It is important to remember that if a large percentage
of your residents are non-English speaking, it is a good idea to provide
educational materials with simple content.
The most important thing to remember is have fun!! Recycling does not
have to be hard work. So you can feel great about what you’re doing.
FEEDBACK
Ask your staff and residents to share their opinions and suggestions
on how your program is working, how it can be improved, what can be done
next, who would they ask for assistance, where are additional sources
for recycling, and when is the next community event?
Feedback allows individuals to “buy into” your program and
“own” the results.
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