If you live in an apartment in Seattle, Washington, you're required by law to recycle. And in San Francisco, if your trash is not sorted properly, you can actually be fined for it!
On the other end of the spectrum, most cities in the United States do not require apartment complexes to have a recycling program at all. As a result, so most do not. And that’s a real shame, as a study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors shows that apartment recycling lowers trash volume by as much as 15 percent!
So if you live in an apartment complex with no recycling program, getting one started is certainly worth a try. And if you don't, you can get to work on your office!
Step One
Get other tenants on board. Though you alone may be able to convince management to institute a recycling program, your chances are greatly improved if you have a group of people behind you, especially considering that bringing in recycling receptacles and having them serviced will ultimately end up adding a few extra dollars to everyone’s monthly rent.
Step Two
Call the waste management company that picks up your apartment complex’s trash. The cost of recycling should be less if it's provided by the same service provider as your garbage. If they don't offer a recycling service, call around and compare prices of those that do.
Step Three
Present the information you’ve gathered to your apartment complex manager. Prepare a letter of interest signed by all the tenants you got on board, as well as a quote from the cheapest waste management company, including their name and phone number. That way all the apartment manager needs to do is call the company to get it started.
For more general information about staring a recycling program, check out Earth911.
Source: BecauseAction.com
