Fresh Kills closing highlights need for high-rise recycling.

Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani have proposed and are implementing the closure of Fresh Kills landfill by the end of the year 2001. Fresh Kills, which is the highest point on the eastern seaboard, is New York City's last remaining landfill. It is time to close the landfill. No one disputes that. But, what will happen to the garbage? What plans does the city have to process it? It is safe to assume that we all are going to be thinking more about our garbage in the ensuing months and years. This will be beneficial to all parties concerned.

When I say "we," I am referring to all of us who live in, work in, provide services for or design/build high-rise residential buildings. Current census estimates predict that by the year 2030, (when our children are our age) the U.S. population will exceed 400 million people. The number of multifamily residential buildings will double, and perhaps one half of today's existing buildings will be replaced by newly constructed or renovated high-rise residential buildings. It is very possible that 75 percent of all multi family dwellings that will be in existence in 2030 have not yet been built. In short, it looks as if in the future, more and more people will be living in high-rise residential buildings.

After four years of city-wide recycling, it is safe to say that the curbside program is not working as effectively as it could be in larger, multi-family high-rises. With some wonderful exceptions, most high-rise buildings have not been participating fully in the existing curbside recycling program since its inception. This situation must be addressed and rectified if the closure of the landfill is to be achieved. It is possible to recycle in high-rises. I know, because I have seen it in different types and sizes of buildings with all different systems. But they do it. What these buildings have achieved can be duplicated ali over the city. While perfection may remain illusive, the guaranteed improvement will prove worth the effort.

New York City generates approximately 13,000 tons per day of residential garbage, which is gradually being redirected from Fresh Kills onto and through our city streets in trucks, along our waterfront in barges, and along rail lines and links leading out of the city. The additional cost of "exporting" our garbage is estimated by the Independent Budget Office to be $250 million annually. These funds are taken out of tax dollars. This is not a capital expense.

There is no time like the present for all parties to assess their participation, address the successes and failures of New York City's curbside recycling program relative to multi-family residential buildings and make some fundamental changes that allow the cost efficiencies of high density populations to really take effect. It's time to take a closer look at our garbage and the positive long-term environmental impacts of recycling.

Recent Policy/Operations Developments in NYC's Curbside Recycling Program

The importance of getting every recyclable material out of the garbage before we pay by the ton to have it taken away is glaringly evident. The City has already taken steps to increase recycling rates by adding mixed paper, junk mail and household metals to the curbside recycling program.

Regrettably, due to budget constraints, the city has also reduced the number of recycling pick-ups from weekly to bi-weekly. Apartment buildings are hardest hit with the burden of storing recyclables, and though the Department of Sanitation (DOS) denies it, anecdotal evidence from owners and managers of apartment buildings of every. size indicates that recyclables are being thrown in the garbage, which is picked up two or three times a week, because there is no more room to store them until the next recycling pick-up.

Inefficiencies of Recycling Program Within High-Rise Buildings

It is understandable that at this point, with the recent policy operations developments, high-rises feel burdened by and or exempted from the recycling program. The current recycling program is targeted toward the more easily implemented single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Under the existing program, the building owner is responsible for: educating the residents; creating and maintaining a collection system within the building; and processing the recyclables for collection at the curb.

In a high-rise with 500 units, this is a tall order. Described below are some of the areas of difficulty in implementing the existing curbside recycling program in a high-rise residential building.

* Running a large building is a complex job. Normal day-to-day activities, as well as emergencies create a very tight allocation of building maintenance and management resources. Adding more comprehensive recycling definitely means more work for building managers and maintenance staff at the beginning. (I contend that an active recycling program reduces many garbage related problems once the initial learning curve has leveled off and operating procedures have been standardized. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)

* Because residents share services with so many others, it is difficult to identify nonparticipation or faulty behavior. There are a certain percentage of residents in every high-rise that take advantage of this to avoid learning about or participating in the recycling program. (I prefer to look at the glass as half full however, and consider that in the high-rises in which I work, the majority of residents are recycling and want to. Recycling is still very popular, and many people in high-rises would do more if they were given the information.)

* Populations change much more rapidly in a high-rise than in a single-family home. Therefore, education has to be constantly repeated and re-enforced to newcomers. (Management and maintenance need to accept that in a high-rise, there will always be educating about recycling.)

* Residents of a high-rise often do not care about any of these issues. They live in a high-rise so they don't have to think about them. They don't know what happens to their garbage/recyclables after they throw it down the chute. They don't have to remember when their pick-up day is or what to do if it falls on a holiday. How do you motivate this type of population?

What we have learned in the time that New York City has been recycling is that extra effort is necessary in order to have a successful recycling program in high-rises. High-rises are not going to recycle up to their potential without some concentrated effort on the part of the city, the real estate community and New York City residents who live in high-rises.

What we have also learned is that high-rises offer substantial efficiencies in collection routes, truck and personnel time spent on the road, and other collection issues, because of the density of the population. Two-hundred families' trash in one stop or 10 stops or 200 stops? It is worth our while to make the needed improvements so that every high-rise building can recycle to its fullest potential.

Education is Key for Both Management and Resident

DOS, which has the responsibility for running the largest multi-family residential building recycling program in the country, must address more fully the special needs of high-rise residential buildings of 10 stories or more. Additional resources are needed both for management on how to implement a recycling program in a high-rise, and for residents on how to properly process their garbage and separated recyclables. Considering the potential for increased route efficiency and volume of recyclables collected, DOS should work actively with real estate developers, managers and workers' unions to maximize recycling participation in high-rise buildings.

Residents of high-rises require different educational materials that reflect their way of living and recycling. The educational material that has been sent to residents via bulk mailings is aimed at single-family home-owners, not high-rise dwellers. The material refers to blue bags, recycling bins, how to put materials out at the curb, what to do if your recycling day falls on a holiday, and other such information. In the lower right hand corner of the last page, the material refers residents of large apartment buildings to their building manager for more information on how they should recycle. If a resident does ask for more information, they get a short verbal response or, if they are lucky, some written information that the conscientious building manager or superintendent has created. It should not be surprising that residents in high-rises are either resistant to recycling or generally willing, but uninformed.

High-rise residential buildings' recycling operations are now, and always will be, very different than single-family homes or four-family brownstones. Now that there are different technologies that allow a high-rise resident to recycle using the existing trash chute, there are now many options for recycling in high-rises. The real estate community should work with the DOS and environmental organizations to create and distribute residential recycling program information designed for large apartment buildings that reflect the diverse recycling solutions many buildings have successfully implemented.

Owners, managers and maintenance need assistance if they are going to take on these new issues in more creative ways. Currently, a building manager's only resource is an 800 automated help line to the DOS, from which he/she can get the above mentioned educational materials and perhaps some phone assistance with problems. DOS does have designated recycling coordinators for every borough in the city, but this information is not well known. We need more printed materials, more workshops and more resources for building managers to get a recycling education program going in their building.

At this point, four years into city-wide residential recycling, the majority of high-rise buildings are simply flying under the radar, fairly confident that neither the city nor building management give recycling high priority, and that no one will ever give the building a substantive fine for not doing so. Many people living in high-rises do not have a clue as to what they should be recycling, and feel that they are somehow exempt from this obligation.

What About Enforcement?

Single-family home owners and smaller multi-family building owners are regularly fined for minor infractions as a result of their or their tenants' (or a passing pedestrian's) incorrect participation in the curbside recycling program, while high-rises generally have not been held accountable for the actions of their tenants. Presently, the only issues that are enforced by DOS are whether or not management has posted signs, created a recycling area, and informed residents of recycling materials and procedures. But there is a strange dislocation when it comes to actually trying to get more and improved participation from residents living in high-rises. The "I can't make them recycle" refrain comes in loud and clear.

It is my experience that you can "make" them recycle, certainly to the extent that your recycling program is substantially improved, if not perfected.

Management needs to take more steps to create recycling guidelines which all residents are expected to follow. Management must consistently reach out with this information (seasoned with a bit of inspiration) to their residents and follow up with consistent enforcement. Internal enforcement is considered somehow impossible, when in reality, it is not only justifiable and reasonable, but there are precedents already set. If a resident was constantly breaking windows in their apartment and damaging the infrastructure, or consistently pushed every button on the elevator as they left it, thus hindering the availability of a shared system to other residents, management would step in and attempt to modify that behavior.

The same attitude must be applied to chronic non-recyclers when identified. A series of letters and/or fines should be accepted as part of managing the recycling program in the building. Just because it is "garbage" doesn't mean it can be swept under the rug. In fact, the "unmentionable" garbage is the number one issue that residents complain about in high-rises - the smells, stains, vermin. Why isn't handling the garbage in the best way possible of the highest priority, since it impacts ever resident and worker in the building, as well as the financial bottom line? In most buildings, garbage is afforded the lowest priority and creates big problems that no one wants to talk about or address.

Since most high-rises have not had the benefit of education and pilot programs targeted directly at this sector of the population, much more education needs to be offered before the city begins to fine high-rises in the same manner as single-family homes, but that education process should begin immediately in order to eventually equalize the enforcement system and increase the efficiency of the recycling program. Remember, we all will be paying by the ton to have those recyclables in the garbage towed out of town.

In the past, the DOS has usually concentrated on looking for garbage or contamination in the recyclables, and has not actually opened the bags of garbage and issued fines if recyclables are found there. Periodically, DOS does conduct such research, actually taking the bags of residential garbage and recycling off site and opening it all and weighing everything, but it will not issue fines to the homeowner.

In order to increase the focus on improved recycling, the city may have to consider looking in everyone's garbage and issuing fines if recyclables are found. According to the DOS figures, almost 50 percent of the targeted materials for recycling are still ending up in the garbage. This is the behavior that the city is going to have to change, unless we want to pay more than we need to in order to have our garbage exported out of the city.

Recommendations

The Department of Sanitation should: reinstate weekly recycling pick-up in high density communities; survey high-rises for collection problems and inefficiencies; provide assistance with obtaining proper containers; immediately implement targeted education programs for this segment of the residential population of NYC.

The City should create new policies and legislative initiatives that would offer new tax abatement' programs and low interest loan programs to building owners willing to retrofit their existing buildings in a manner that will specifically increase recycling diversion rates. Information should be made more readily available of what incentive programs currently exist. The City should also explore either the privatization of its mechanized collection routes entirely, or the creation of partnerships with private, specialized recycling industries related to management of recycling programs in high-rise buildings and/or collection.

If privatized, high-rises would pay a private hauler to take the trash instead of the funds coming out of tax revenues. There are many advantages to this. Private companies would have an incentive to aggressively reach out to all high-rise buildings as potential clients, and would educate in the buildings that became clients.

The building's owner or manager would have an incentive to enforce recycling in the building to keep hauling fees low. The residents would finally be allowed to benefit from recycling by being rewarded for stellar recycling with lower bills.

Building codes should be amended that will foster greater waste management efficiencies in high-rise residential buildings. Technologies already exist, and more are being developed, that would significantly increase the efficiency of residential high-rise recycling programs. These technologies should be incorporated into the building codes for new construction. There is already a precedent for this with the mandated conversion of incinerators to garbage compactors in residences, and also in related areas of air, water, and energy in new construction. Similar criteria for solid waste technologies should be implemented immediately. This initiative can be achieved at no cost to the city, and pro-actively plans for a future in which both multi-family residential buildings and comprehensive waste reduction recycling are growing trends.

Building workers' unions should develop continuing education courses for additional certification in recycling related issues. The presence of an active recycling program also impacts the door and concierge staff. Job descriptions should be reviewed to legitimize and/or authorize recycling related activities. Levels of proficiency in facilitating quality recycling within a high-rise should be encouraged and reflected in salary Increases. Advanced training in solid waste recycling issues should be as available as boiler repair, HVAC operations, or any other building maintenance specialty area.

The real estate community should develop some comprehensive codes and programs for improving internal enforcement. Language in leases should be strengthened and fines or charges incorporated into a standard lease. Industry standards for recycling in high-rise residential buildings should be discussed in committees and implemented. Educational programs and materials should be developed that assist management in running an in-house recycling program, and also the residents in participating fully and correctly.

Recycling is Not the Problem, It's the Solution

In many buildings across the entire spectrum of income levels, there is often a reluctance to address recycling issues at all. for any number of reasons, mostly pertaining to erroneous perceptions about the nature of garbage itself; what is or is not possible in a high-rise; and behavioral patterns related to income levels (both high and low). Acquiescing to this behavior (the method of the past) is proving to be unproductive. We all have to look at our own garbage, or the garbage we are being paid to manage or process within a building, and get control of it. Recycling and waste prevention are key elements to turning "garbage" into a positive force in the building.

By stepping up to the plate and taking on the commitment to recycle as comprehensively as possible, and creating programs within buildings that promote the importance of recycling and waste prevention, the waste stream begins to change in nature. The garbage bags get smaller. Less of the waste stream is contaminated by food because residents are separating recyclables from the garbage in their apartments. Fewer coat hangers, boxes and coat-racks are going down the chute because management is educating and reinforcing good behavior. Chute rooms are cleaner and the entire floor no longer smells. The benefits to recycling and practicing waste prevention are tremendous. It starts out as more work, but evolves into a much cleaner and more efficiently run building.

It is time to admit that there are substantial inefficiencies in the present system of recycling in large high-rise residential buildings. The decision to close Fresh Kills landfill presents the perfect opportunity to start anew. There are significant potential efficiencies, cost-savings and revenue-generating opportunities in the area of high-rise residential solid waste management which are currently being lost. If the current census estimates are correct, it would be fiscally and environmentally prudent to seize this opportunity to design and implement a new facet of New York City's recycling program and capture the valuable recyclables out of the garbage instead of exporting them (at a hefty price) out of the city.

(Eve Martinez is Recycling Coordinator at IDC/Hi-Rise Recycling Systems, and is vice chairman of the Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB).