&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA-530-F-99-022C
October 1999
www.epa.gov/osw
f
East Orange,
New Jersey
22% Waste Reduction Rate in Multi-family Dwellings
East Orange, New Jersey, offers recycling services to all its residents. The
city-run program serving residents of multi-family households in
complexes with 50 or more units began in 1992. Residents receive
weekly collection of newspaper, magazines, phone books, aluminum
and ferrous cans, #1 and #2 plastics, and clear, green, and brown glass bottles and
jars. In 1996, residents served by this recycling program diverted 22% of their waste from
disposal.
Program Description
E
ast Orange, New Jersey (population 73,000),
is located about 15 miles west of New York
City, and is a highly urban community.
Well over 50% of households in East
Orange reside in multi-family
buildings. All multi-family
households receive curbside
recycling service, with a combined
single-family/small multi-family
service provided under contract, and
a separate recycling collection to
complexes with 50 or more units
provided by municipal employees. A
private firm, under city contract, collects
trash for the entire city.
East Orange instituted single-family
recycling in 1989, and followed with a
MFD recycling program three years later.
Recycling is mandated by state law which
requires communities to offer recycling
services and residents to separate
recyclables from trash. East Orange's
local recycling ordinance allows the city
to fine apartment management for
failure to comply with the city's
recycling requirements and allows the
city to discontinue both trash and
recycling services for non-
compliance. The city has fined some
complexes but has never
discontinued service to a building.
The single-family program and
each recycle the same materials, in a two
separation set-out. The city provides its multi-
family customers with sets of 90-gallon carts,
with each set of two carts serving about 30
households. Paper products go in one cart and
commingled containers in the second. These
carts are typically placed near trash receptacles
in complexes with common trash areas. In
buildings with trash chutes, city staff usually
place small recycling containers on each floor
and building maintenance staff are responsible
for emptying these containers into the central
containers for collection by city crews.
City crews use six-cubic-yard rear-loading
packer trucks to provide weekly collection
service to East Orange's MFDs. They collect
paper on one pass and commingled containers
on a separate pass. City crews deliver collected
recyclables to a materials recovery facility
(MRF), which a private firm operates. The city
pays no tip fee at the facility and receives 10%
of revenues from the sale of its paper.
Materials Collected
Newspaper
Magazines
Phone books
Aluminum and ferrous cans
#1 and #2 plastics
Glass bottles and jars
This profile is part of the fact sheet Complex Recycling Issues: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste Reduction in Multi-
Family Dwellings (EPA-530-F-99-022).
the multi-family recycling programs
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Outreach Activities
East Orange staff closely monitor each
building's participation in the
recycling program so educational
resources can be targetted where they
are most needed. When buildingsjoin
the program, a city inspector evaluates
the building and helps management
tailor the new program to the individual
building layout and trash system. City
staff also distribute a brochure on the
city's MFD recycling program to each
household when a new buildingjoins
the program.
Collection staff note decreases in
amounts of materials recovered and
increases in contamination at buildings
on an ongoing basis. When collection
staff report problems, city management
either issue a clear, courteous letter,
with a name and phone number to
contact to rectify the situation or
personally visit the building. As a result
of this close monitoring of recycling set-
out quality and quantity, East Orange
has few problems with contamination
of recyclables and maintains its high
waste reduction level among its MFDs.
Costs/Benefits
Recycling from large multi-family
complexes in East Orange cost the
city $13 per household in 1996. This cost
includes the costs of collection (on a full-
cost accounting basis, including
depreciation of capital equipment such
as vehicles and carts), costs of processing
(to the city), less revenues remitted to
the city by the processor. Per household
costs for trash management were $92.
Trash costs reflect payments to the city's
trash contractor and trash tip fees. The
overall cost of trash disposal and
recycling collection in East Orange's
multi-family program averaged $106 per
household in 1996. If the city did not
recycle and disposed of all waste
generated in MFDs, conservative
estimates indicate that total costs per
multi-family household would be $111.
On a per ton basis, trash cost $154
per ton in 1996 compared to only $81
per ton for recycling services. Recycling
is cheaper on a per ton basis because
the city pays no tip fee for recyclables
delivered to the MRF while trash disposal
tip fees were nearly $75 per ton.
East Orange finances all trash and
recycling services from regular property
tax assessments.
Tips for Replication
• Mandate recycling program
availability and participation.
• Provide education and outreach
materials to all residents on a regular
basis.
• Create a mechanism for
encouraging owners or managers of
buildings to comply with recycling
requirements.
• Be flexible in program design. Fit
the recycling system to each building.
• Consider using municipal
employees to implement the program
because of the opportunity for
increased oversight.
Contacts:
Dominick D'Altilio
Municipal Recycling
Coordinator
Department of Public Works
Solid Waste and Recycling Division
44 City Hall Plaza
East Orange, New Jersey 07019
(973) 266-5337 fax (973) 266-5367
dom_daltilio@email.com
Ecodata, Inc.
97 N. Campo Road
Westport, CT 06880
(203) 454-1700 fax (203) 227-5289
Program Summary, 1996
Start Date
Type of Multi-Family Buildings
Households Served
Average Persons per HH Served
Total Waste Generated (Tons)
Disposed
Diverted
Total Diverted (%)
Average Generation (Ibs./HH/day)
Disposal
Diversion
Average per ton SWM costs
Trash collection and disposal
Recycling
Cost per HH per year
Trash collection and disposal*
Recycling
Estimated Costs per HH per Year
without Waste Reduction**
1992
All buildings and complexes in East Orange
with 50 or more units are eligible to
participate. In 1996, approximately 75
buildings and complexes were enrolled in the
program.
6,236
1.58
4,772
3,729
1,043
21.9%
4.2
3.3
0.9
$137.94
$153.99
$80.60
$105.56
$92.08
$13.48
$111.21
SWM = solid waste management HH = household
Note: Numbers may not add to total due to rounding. Data represent buildings in the city MFD trash and
recycling program.
* The city paid a trash tip fee of $74.72 per ton for disposal in 1996.
* * In order to estimate what per household costs might have been if East Orange had no recycling program,
Ecodata assumed that all waste generated would be handled as trash and the marginal collection cost per ton of
material that was recycled would be equal to 50% of the per ton trash collection cost in the present system.
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