Seattle Launches Recycling Program for Apartments

The City of Seattle has launched a new recycling program with the goal of increasing recycling in apartment buildings.

As part of Mayor Greg Nickels’ plan to reverse a decline in Seattle’s recycling rate and to boost recycling to 60 percent, the city has distributed approximately 100,000 blue reusable polyethylene recycling bags to individual apartment and condo units in buildings that currently recycle.

“To succeed, recycling should be convenient for everyone,” Tim Croll, director of the community services division of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), says. “This system emulates the success of our curbside recycling program- it makes recycling that much easier for those who already participate.”

Seattle’s multi-family units recycled 22 percent of their waste in 2001 as compared to 57 percent for single-family residences. The city’s goal is to boost multi-family recycling to 37 percent by 2008.

“If every tenant in every building that is signed up for our recycling program recycled two pounds per month for the next five years, we would reach our goal,” Croll says. Currently, 80 percent of Seattle’s multi-family buildings offer recycling to their tenants.

Each bag has recycling guidelines printed on it and contains illustrated recycling guidelines for residents to read and to post. The sturdy bags have a separate pocket for glass bottles and jars. All other recyclables are commingled in the larger pocket, which can be closed with a Velcro strip while the glass is emptied.

The city has distributed the bags as part of a pilot program that will test their effectiveness in decreasing contamination, increasing the amount of recyclables and encouraging tenants to recycle. Similar apartment bag programs have been implemented in Federal Way, Kirkland and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Additional bags can be purchased from local retailers.

SPU’s Friends of Recycling Program engages tenants to implement and monitor recycling in their building with one-time $100 rebates on their garbage bills.

Those interested in additional information on Seattle’s multi-family recycling efforts or locations where the bags can be purchased should visit www.cityofseattle.net/util/services/apartment.