My Recycling Woes & Solutions

Tragically, the apartment that I currently live in does not offer single-stream recycling for tenants. As a former waste/recycling account manager, I can completely understand why. If you're interested in learning some of the reasons why apartments are generally poor recyclers, jump to the next section. If you are more interested in how I have recycled as much as possible over the past few years, read on!

I've had to be creative over the time I've lived here. My recycling has come with me to my parents' house in Wisconsin (note: I did not cross state lines just to recycle my cardboard, nor am I advocating that as a reasonable practice), but most often it has gone with me to my friend's house who does have recycling and are kind enough to let me add my single-stream recycling in with theirs. This has occasionally resulted in a special trip of about 15 miles in my car to transport the recyclables, and usually me removing a few non-recyclable items they've placed in their container.

If you're reading that and going,"But the GAS for your CAR, Alexa! You're supposed to conserve energy, not burn more fossil fuels!" I have a fun fact for you: garbage and recycling trucks average about 3 miles per gallon (mpg) (source). Even in my 15-year-old combustion engine car, my fuel economy is about 7-8x better than a waste truck.

However, all of this running around does beg the question of impact: knowing how flawed our recycling system in the U.S. is, does one small family's worth of recyclables really make a difference? Honestly? I don't have the answer. I bring my metal recycling directly to a local recycling center, where I know that it is in the proper waste stream and I can have relative certainty that it will be recycled. I know that my work removing contamination from my friend's recycling bin at the source before it reaches the truck makes a difference. Most of all, I know that these practices keep me cognizant of the waste I produce through my daily life as an American (which, statistically, is likely to be a lot. source)

I also wanted to address that my weird recycling habits are a result of privilege. I have time, reliable transportation, and the ability to access recycling resources that other tenants in my building may not. There are many functional and systemic barriers that can get in the way of all of us living sustainably! As is always the goal of this blog, I would encourage readers to evaluate their own waste habits and see what imperfect actions they can take to reduce their environmental impact.

Why Apartments Are Generally Poor Recyclers

Apartment buildings are notorious for contaminating their recycling with plastic bags and other waste products, often causing the recycling container to need to be serviced by a waste truck. A single bad recycling container can contaminate an entire truckload of recyclables, and cause them to go to the landfill. This is a true waste, as possibly hundreds of people's time has been spent sorting and rinsing out the recyclable products present in a truckload. Not only that; if the recycling truck driver does not see that there was contamination in the container he or she loads into their truck, it can still make it to the recycling center floor, and result in safety hazards for recycling center employees. It can also create compliance risks for the ratio of recycled items coming in and going out of the center, because recycling centers are only permitted to designate a limited amount of tonnage as waste.

There are a few factors that contribute to apartments' habit of contaminated recycling.

Apartments have transient renter populations, where people are coming from different areas around the country where they have different rules and regulations about what can and cannot be recycled. Some people simply don't know the local rules. In addition, the waste containers at apartment buildings can fill quickly (after move-outs or people not breaking down their large boxes) and people tend to dump excess into the recycling container when the garbage is full. This is motivated by practicality ("I can't keep this garbage in my apartment, it will smell up the entire space"), justified self-righteousness ("everyone else is able to leave their trash out here, why can't I?"), and reasonable laziness ("I walked this bag of trash down 3 flights of stairs and across two parking lots in the snow, I will not be carrying it back.")

The root of the problem is since tenants indirectly pay for the waste services as a portion of their rent, the people using the service are not stakeholders and have no reason other than benevolence and warm fuzzies to use the services correctly. Additionally, landlords are motivated not to have giant containers on-site, as these can become prime spots for illegal dumping. This is where people who don't live at the apartment complex drive by to drop off large waste products such as furniture and mattresses. Even if the waste company penalizes the property manager with contamination charges (and they do...), the costs are not usually passed on to the tenants.

Long story short... I don't have recycling offered at my current living situation, and I get it, but I'm dissatisfied that the tragedy of the commons is striking once again!