Information on Successful Multi-Family Building Waste Diversion

Hi there,

The stream below jogged my memory about a great programme that is running in London around multi-occupancy tower blocks on low income residential housing estates. It is run by the East London Community Recycling Partnership (ELCRP) and they collect dry recyclables as well as food waste. Their website is www.elcrp-recycling.com The food waste is collected in buckets in each household, to which "Bokashi" (otherwise known as "Effective Microorganisms") is added (www.livingsoil.co.uk for more info). The microbes in the Bokashi ferment the organic waste without it rotting. It can be kept in the buckets for over 2 weeks without any smells coming out. The buckets containing the food are collected weekly and added to an in-vessel composting system, such as a Big Hanna or a Rocket (http://www.peterridley.co.uk/products/big_hanna.html or http://www.acceleratedcompost.com/ ). A large scale worm farm or open compsting could be used, but the closed systems are better for urban areas & comply with govt health regulations. Participation in the programme is promoted on getting rid of the rotting food in communal bins on the estates, which stink in the summer & keep the massive rats well fed year round. Estates on which the programme has operated have been free of bad smells most of the year and rodent problems have been massively reduced. They are getting through over 11 tonnes of food waste at any one time & the resulting compost is used on local gardens. This methodology would be suitable worldwide, so it would be worth getting in touch with ELCRP.

Cheers,
Alexis

The site is very good. The link needs correction to get there. There are too many 'e's in street. Delete one and it works fine. Again, nice site with apartment recycling information and tips on reuse like freecycle.

Maggie Fields

(517) 335-6250
Pollution Prevention & Green building Construction & Deconstruction
Resources are at: www.michigan.gov/deqconstruction
MDEQ -ESSD, PO Box 30242 Lansing, MI 48909

Hello Maria,

I am a Recycling Marketing Specialist in several counties in Western Wisconsin. Over the past year, I've been developing a program to improve recyling at multi-family apartments (5 + units). I attended one of Doug's seminars on Fostering Sustainable Behavior and have applied some of his methods to the program. One of the key factors in improving recycling is making it more convenient. Apartment dwellers usually don't have the space to store recycling so it needs to be taken out often. If the bins for recycling are further away than the waste bin, it often never makes it to the right place. We also found that the containers lacked good labeling. New labels were developed that clearly identify the bins with a full color image of the accepted recyclables as well as a heading and short list of what should and should not be deposited. A more detailed list of accepted recyclables (and items NOT recyclable) is being distributed in the form of a door hanger. We're also using small posters that remind residents to recycle and encourage recycling by showing and explaining briefly what the recycling will be used for. (ie: plastic bottles turn into deck chairs) If you're interested in seeing these materials I can email a PDF file. We are encouraging other counties to adopt these materials to suit their needs. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

-Matt

[email protected]

Maria,

You'll want to take a peak at http://www.maplestreeetapartments.com. I manage this place while simultaneously doing research on its per capita waste generation and resource recovery and waste diversion programs. I'm in the process of writing numerous peer-review journal submissible reports resulting from the investigation. At the most, the focus is on waste characterization but will soon shift to the resource reovery programs. A variety of management-based interventions and social marketing have resulted in very respectable resource recovery rates which are generally in the high 80's for recyclables and 50 + for compost-target (and even higher when cat litter is not considered). There's also an HHW diversion program that is doing well as well albeit total quantities generated by apartment dwellers are very low relative to single-family dwellings.

Stephan Pollard