Achievements, insights, and key findings in the effort to reduce waste in Manhattan high rise buildings.

1. Getting to Zero Waste
One Apartment Building
at a Time
An Update on the
M SWAB Residential
Recycling & Reuse Committee

2. Why a Residential and Reuse Committee
focused on High Rises (10 floors+)?
● One half of NYC waste is residential.
● Major portion generated within high
rises, esp. in Manhattan
● High rises run by leaders
● Big opportunities to reduce waste
via recycling and reuse/ sharing
■ Access to drop-off programs

3. Year One Goal
• Outreach to property owners and managers, coop and condo
boards with a presentation on “How to Engage Residents of
High Rise Buildings in Recycling and Reuse”
– Engagement of residents critical to addressing unique
recycling and reuse related challenges: anonymity,
diversity, turnover, lack of space

4. • Targets have been identified (Major owner/ operators (Durst,
Lefrak), Third party Property Mgmt Firms, REBNY, Coop and
Condo Board Owners Assn, etc.)
• Representatives from Durst, Schwab House and Strivers
Gardens are on our Committee:
Rick Schulman, Jarrod Whitaker and Martin Robertson
Accomplishments

5. • We have prepared a report based upon online survey,
building tours, interviews, literature review
Accomplishments

7. Sample Slides - Case Study

8. Key Findings

9. 1. Recycling
Collection
Set-Up
2. Outreach
and
Education
3. Enforcement4. Measurement
4 Pillars for
Engaging
Residents in
Recycling &
Reuse
It Takes More to Get High Rise Residents to Recycle
than a Well Designed Recycling Collection Set Up

10. Lots of Creative Opportunities to Reuse Within
Multi-family Buildings; Social Benefits too

11. 315 East 69 Street
In-Building
Libraries!
Many buildings we visited have book
exchanges or in one case, a
lending library and reading area.
333 East 69 Street
Schwab House
300 West End Avenue
West 57 Street (confirm)

12. Barriers to Greater High Rise Recycling
● Practicalities: Time/ resources needed to engage high rise
residents. Recycling is not Job #1.
● Incentives for owners and managers: How to get recycling
and waste reduction higher on their radar screens?
○ Enforcement doesn’t seem to be enough
○ Will DSNY financial incentives work?
○ Will something else work better??

13. Insights
● No one likes to receive tickets; DSNY doesn’t like to give
tickets
● Financial incentives may or may not add up
● Property managers and owners are incentivized by awards
and recognition; enhanced competitiveness

14. Conclusions
• Our research can fill an important niche for “how to”
information
• More resources needed beyond DSNY ‘decals’ to make it
easier for buildings to engage their residents effectively, e.g.
– Add’l signage (‘What not to recycle’)
– Education and outreach tools (‘Why Recycle’)
– Enforcement tools for supers (‘Recycling Alert’)
– Residential ‘Recycling Champions’ program
• https://www.grownyc.org/recyclingchampions
• https://www.grownyc.org/recycling/NYCHA
• Need for Updated Usage and Attitude Research (2005);
Waste Characterization Study for Multi-Family Buildings

15. Conclusions
• Opportunity for single stream to free up space, make it easier
for residents to sort (caveat: trade off with labor)
• There are other policy implications that can help enhance high
rise recycling and reuse: Mandatory...
– Lease riders
– Residential waste audits and reporting
– Building mgmt and staff training,
– Distribution of annual recycling leaflet, info prior to move
in/move out
– Better recycling labeling on products and packages

16. Implications and Next Steps for M SWAB
• Publish our findings (ppt, brochure, website)
• Sit down with DSNY
– Vet the report; ask for funding to help publish
– Share recommendations for policy implications
• Create a Policy Briefing document for MOS, next Sanitation
Committee

17. Implications
• Opportunities to create “demand” among property owners
and managers for our research:
Bring property owners and managers together to share ideas
and learning
Spearhead “High Rise Recycling” Challenge/ Award program
for property management companies, individual buildings,
individual RE leaders

20. Let’s talk

21. Sample Slides - References

22. References

23. https://www.grownyc.org/recycling/NYCHA

27. Assessment
https://www.grownyc.org/recyclingchampions

28. Sample Slides - Best Practices

29. Sample Slides - Tips