Recycling becomes mandatory in apartment living

The city of Calgary has finally decided to include apartment buildings in its mandatory recycling program. Five years ago, Calgary introduced new rules that provided public curbside recycling to single-family homes. The recycling pickup plan, however, excluded apartment buildings – until now! Starting on February 1^st, 2016, on-site recycling bins must be provided to multi-family dwellings in hopes that it will reduce the amount of waste in landfills.

Apartment buildings, along with condominiums and townhouses, rack up approximately 30,000 tonnes of recyclable material from townhouses, 5,700 of which are collected by private recyclers. A small portion is taken to community recycling depots, and a whopping 17,000 tonnes is sent to landfills.

Given the massive amount of recyclable material, the city of Calgary was forced to reevaluate their recycling pickup law, deciding that they would make it mandatory for multi-family residences. To avoid completely shutting out private recyclers, the city will let private haulers compete for the business.

Property Managers must ensure that that they provide a sufficient amount of apartment recycling bins. If not, they’ll be slapped with a $250 fine.

Source: Calgary Herald