Recycling Participation among renters and multi-family DWELLINGS

Recycling Participation among renters IN multi-family DWELLINGS Working with the City of Pittsburgh to improve participation and outcomes

Simone Vecchio, Diane Flagg, Maria Didomenico, Caesar de Chicchis

Project background39.3% of Pittsburghs 305,000 residents live in multi-unit housing.Recycling has been mandated by the City of Pittsburgh since 2004Section 619.13 requires landlords to inform the tenant of city rules for storage, disposal, and recycling of refuseBuildings with 5 units or less receive free curbside recycling pick-up from the City of Pittsburgh (bi-monthly, single stream)Buildings with 6 or more units are responsible for contracting with a private hauler to comply with the citys recycling mandate

Challenges for the Citys recycling programThe office has a limited staff of three people responsible for enforcement and promotion of the recycling programIt is difficult to ensure that building managers are offering recycling services to their tenants.It is difficult to determine who is in violation of the mandate: the landlord or the tenant.

Design of StudyGoal: Identify specific challenges and obstacles that prevent renters and landlords from fully participating in mandated recycling and propose recommendations for increasing recycling compliance. Methods:Review of scholarly and practitioner literatureTake examples from other similarly-situated citiesReview how area universities can play a role in this issueConduct a survey of residents and landlords and evaluate the resulting qualitative and quantitative data

BARRIERS To PARTICIPATIONHigh turnover of tenants/Large student populationLimited storage spaceLack of cooperation by building ownersLack of communication between tenants and managementLack of information of recycling practices High contamination rates

Best Practices from City and university ResearchSt. Paul, MN makes available a tool kit consisting of sources and templates for everything needed for recycling program implementation including: legal contracts, program design, instruction manuals, posters, and access to tracking databases.Cambridge, MA requires a mandatory recycling plan created by landlords to be shared with tenants. In addition, the city sends out a monthly newsletter to property managers and a separate monthly newsletter to the community to remind them all of the importance of recycling.Durham, NC instituted a Recycling Ambassadors Program. Recycling Ambassadors are volunteers who serve as a resource for their friends and neighbors about recycling.Carnegie Mellon University students initiated a community impact project called Eco-Reps wherein environmental resident assistants organized programs, lectures, events, workshops, and activities to promote student recycling in residence halls, sororities and fraternities, and apartment buildings.

the non-profit recycling hauler, Eureka Recycling contracted by the city of St. Paul. available to assist apartment buildings in nearby cities with designing a model program to establish recycling collection. available to assist apartment buildings in nearby cities with designing a model program to establish recycling collection. 6

Survey research: RESIDENTS55 = total surveys41 = Pittsburgh residents28 = renters10 = dormitory3 = owner-occupied

GeographyAgeTenureBuilding typeDurationAwareness of programLevel of participationMotivating factorsProblems

Quantifying ParticipationHow consistently do you recycleAll of the time (2)Some of the time (1)I dont recycle (0)What do you recycle Each material indicated with 1 or 0Participation Index (ranges from zero to one)

Materials: percent of respondents recyclingVariableValuenewsmixedcardboardglasscansplasticTenureRenter42.935.735.753.653.644.4Dorm40.060.030.060.060.060.0Building SizeSFD60.050.060.080.080.080.05 or Less50.050.033.366.750.050.06 or More37.541.729.245.850.039.1All City Respondents43.943.936.656.156.150.0

Variation in participation SCORE across two housing variablesBuilding TypeSFD*5 or Less6 or MoreHousing TenureOWN1.001.00RENT0.640.530.360.48DORM0.510.510.710.530.43

City-wide mean = 0.51

This table compares recycling participation across two variables. The two respondents who owned their own home had perfect recycling scores. Participation drops markedly for those that rent or live in a dormitory. Again, participation also decreases as we move from single family dwellings to larger apartment buildings, suggesting that the most severe problem is among residents who do not have their recycling collected by the city. The interior of the table represents the cross section of both variables, and illustrates that renters in buildings with 6 or more units exhibits the lowest levels of participation 10

Multivariate analysisIVcoefficientP>|t|months at residence-0.00020.9025 units or less-0.1060.58more than 5 units-0.2730.087rent-0.3930.294dorm-0.2470.537constant1.0330.007

observations40Prob > F0.217R-squared0.180Adj. R-squared0.060

AwarenessVariableValuePercentage of applicable respondentsmean recycling scoreMandateAware240.77MandateNot Aware760.43ScheduleAware530.87ScheduleNot Aware470.23

Building manager SurveyAdministered at a monthly meeting of the Western Pennsylvania Real Estate Investors Association36 total surveys, 24 were of managers of properties within City of Pittsburgh19 of 24 surveys were from managers of buildings with 5 units or lessSurvey gathered data on geography, building type, knowledge of mandate, fines/warnings, and what steps the managers take to facilitate recycling among tenants.

BUILDING MANAGERS:Awareness and communicationWritten instructionVerbal instructionNo instructionAware of mandate37.5%66.0%33.0%22.0%Unaware of mandate62.5%26.0%26.0%46.0%

Recommendations: Enhanced Recycling WebsiteImproving the WebsiteAutomate the process that informs residents of their collection schedule.Include information about recycling batteries and electronic waste.Provide links to non profit groups that accept reusable furniture and appliances.Marketing the WebsiteSeveral universities have expressed interest in including a link to recycling information on the web pages they maintain for off-campus housing resources.The Western Pennsylvania Real Estate Investors Association and other organizations geared toward property managers could provide a link on their website or in their newsletters to help inform landlords of the Citys recycling procedures.

Automated process: create and application that would allow residents to input their address and have their recycling information generated automatically15

RecommendationsCollection of Data and Assessing MFD performance levelsCity and State law currently requires building managers in conjunction with haulers to report recycling tonnages on a quarterly or annual basis, although it is unclear to what extent this information is available. Tonnage data could form the basis of a performance evaluation system that would classify buildings as having high, medium, or low levels of compliance.A performance evaluation system would help to allocate resources to problem areas.

Further research is needed on participation rates and recycling behavior among renters in the city

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Recommendations: Landlord/Tenant Action PlanA tool kit similar to those being used in St. Paul, MN could facilitate landlord tenant communication on recycling.A system of random inspections, such as that administered in Cambridge, MA could increase compliance among managers. Having these enforcement measures covered in the media could amplify their efficacy.The City should work with the County and Municipalities to establish uniform recycling regulations for MFDs. This could help increase compliance among landlords who own properties in multiple jurisdictions.

The toolkit can include posters, commitment pledges.17

RecommendationsRecycling AmbassadorEvaluate current recycling programs and provide feedback to better enhance their effectiveness and convenience for residents and encourage management and resident participation.Act as a consultant to landlords/property managers to develop recycling in their buildings, to advise landlords on providing educational materials, and to provide recycling information in lease agreements and newsletters when available.Evaluate participation and collection in large complexes to provide feedback on contamination issues and progress.

to coordinate and address the needs and challenges of recycling in MFDs18