CAI-NJ Apr. 2022

MANAGEMENT TRENDS Recycling in Your Community –

Getting Your Association One Step Closer to Going Green By Vincent Rapolla, CMCA, AMS, Denali Property Management, Inc. and Anthony Nazzaro, PMP Management, AAMC C ommunity Associations have different recycling rules and procedures based on the town or city they are located in. Some associations are ser viced by the town while others have to supply their own means for trash and recycling pick up.

A common theme we see at community associations with central trash and recycling areas is how do we get our residents to recycle. With COVID and many of our residents working from home, dining out less, and receiving at-home grocery deliveries, there has been a tremendous increase in the amount of day-to-day garbage and recycling at community associations. Just like our highways were not built for the number of cars on the roads, the recycling and refuse areas on properties were not designed for the amount daily trash, cardboard, recycling materials, and deliveries that come on a daily basis. People generally being home more and having more stuff to get rid of makes now one of the best times a community can begin planning an effective recycling program. There are many rules that are currently in place in refer ence to what can and what cannot be recycled. When residents are faced with lengthy signs and/or brochures, they can get frustrated and simply give up. Other initiatives go by the wayside when the trash haul ers begin to mingle the regular trash with the recycling. Once members of the community see this it leads to resi dents throwing everything together. The state of recycling in our country is very bad right now. It does not take much to make an entire three-yard dumpster of recycled materials into a “dirty” load, which then sends it to the regular trash truck. Plastic bags and dog refuse bags are one of the biggest issues that will lead a bin to be considered “dirty.” The

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“When residents are faced with lengthy signs and/or brochures, they can get frustrated and simply give up.”

recycling centers cannot process materials that have dog refuse bags mixed in. The bags get caught up in the sorting machinery and cause malfunctions. This also happens with your regular plastic shopping bags. The keys to a successful recycling program are to keep it simple, educate your residents, communicate, and look for fun initiatives. Keep It Simple – There is nothing worse than walking into a refuse area and there are confusing signs everywhere. Long lists of what can and cannot be recycled, signs with different fonts, laminated and unlaminated posted haphaz ardly, and information that is completely outdated from the 90s. Messaging should be bright, clean, on simple signs with colors, photos, pictures, and arrows. Simple, clean,

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