&EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5306W) EPA-530-F-99-022g October 1999 www.epa.gov/osw Seattle, Washington 23% Waste Reduction Rate in Multi-family Dwellings Seattle, Washington, is a large urban, metropolitan center with a long history of recycling programs. The city contracts with private firms to provide multi-family trash and recycling services. Apartment complexes must request recycling services, and as of 1997, complexes representing more than half of multi-family households had done so. Residents must deliver recyclables to centrally located areas. In 1996 residents participating in Seattle's multi-family recycling program diverted approximately 23% of their household waste from disposal. Program Description Seattle started its single family recycling program in 1988, and initiated the multi- family recycling program a year later. Recycling in Seattle is completely voluntary — each household or multi-family complex must request service. To encourage recycling, Seattle offers a variable fee trash service (with fees based on the size of the container for trash) to both single- and multi-family customers, and provides recycling service at no additional charge. The city contracts with four private companies to provide multi-family recycling services; two companies serve residences in the north of the city, two others serve residences in the south. Each collection company uses a different sorting and container system but the companies largely collect the same materials (all of the contractors collect newspaper, other mixed paper, glass containers, and cans but only two of the four companies accept #1 and #2 plastic bottles). The city is trying to standardize the system; all buildings joining the program now require residents to sort materials into four streams: separate toters for clear, green, and brown glass, and a dumpster for all other materials. Contractors provide the dumpsters and/or 95-gallon carts used in the program. Collection frequency also varies by material, complex, and hauler. For example, a hauler may collect paper from a complex every week but only collect glass bi-weekly or even monthly. Haulers deliver collected recyclables to material recovery facilities (MRFs) or directly to market. Contractors report the tonnages recycled each month by commodity. The contractors are paid a fixed amount for their collection and processing services. Seattle assumes the risk for market variation in commodity prices by reimbursing the contractors if prices fall below a set level and reducing payment by the amount prices rise above the same level. Although the city relies on the private sector to deliver the recycling services, the city staff enforce the contracts and enroll the individual complexes in the recycling program. City staff also collect and compile program data. Materials Collected Newspaper Mixed paper (including catalogs, magazines, mail, paperboard, phone books, paperback books, office paper, and paper bags) Glass containers Cans #1 and #2 plastic containers* * Plastics collected by only two of the four haulers serving multi-family residences. 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). ------- Outreach Activities Seattle tries to use incentives rather than enforcement to encourage recycling. The city also maintains an on- going education program about the apartment recycling program. One component of this education program is the "Friend of Recycling" volunteer program. Program volunteers attend a city training session, then serve as recycling advocates in their buildings. Volunteers also monitor recycling containers for contamination. Seattle issues an annual $100 rebate on trash bills to the management of buildings with Friend of Recycling volunteers. Seattle uses multiple messages to encourage recycling. The city encourages MFD management to get involved in order to protect the environment and save money. The city also reports that building managers have found implementing recycling helps keep trash areas clean. In cases of consistently contaminated recyclables at an apartment building, the city has terminated recycling service as a last resort. Service has been terminated at between 50 and 100 buildings. Costs/Benefits In 1996 recycling from MFDs in Seattle cost an average $19 per household. During the same period, trash management costs averaged $64 per household. These costs include fees paid to the contractors for collection of trash and recyclables, estimated tip fees paid for trash disposal, and city administration. If recycling were eliminated and all discards were collected as trash, total costs per multi-family household would be at most 6% lower. In 1996, the total cost of the trash collection and disposal and recycling programs was $83 for multi-family households; the costs for trash collection and disposal of all waste generated at MFDs would have been at least $79. Seattle has designed and implemented a system where MFD recycling programs are delivered at little additional cost to the community, and where significant diversions prolong the life of disposal facilities, support local economic development, and slow resource depletion. Tips for Replication • Use in-building volunteers to communicate with other residents about program difficulties and successes. • Require that residents recycle through their lease agreements. • Provide waste reduction education and information to residents when they first move into units. • Produce educational materials in multiple languages if some of the local population does not speak English. • Have a mechanism to deny service if complexes consistently set out contaminated materials. Contact: Liz Kain Recycling Coordinator Seattle Public Utilities Department Dexter Morton Building 710 Second Avenue, 5th floor Seattle, Washington 98104 (206) 684-4166 fax (206) 684-8529 lizkain@ci.seattle.wa.us AND 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* Recycled Total Diverted (%) Average Generation (Ibs./HH/day) Disposed Diverted SWM Costs per HH per Year" Trash Collection Trash Disposal Diversion Estimated Costs per HH per Year without Waste Reduction*** 1989 All residences in buildings with 5 or more units are eligible to participate but they must sign up for service 56,025 out of 101,150 total units in the city 1.69 35,856 27,729 8,127 22.7% 3.5 2.7 0.8 $83.43 $25.75 $38.54 $19.14 $78.88 HH = household SWM = solid waste management Notes: Data represent only those households participating in the MFD recycling program. Numbers may not add to total due to rounding. 'Contractors collect trash from single- and multi-family customers in the same vehicles on blended routes. Ecodata estimated trash generation for single- versus multi-family residences. **Trash and recycling collection costs reflect fees paid to collection contractors and city administration costs. Trash disposal costs reflect a tip fee of $78, the prevailing rate charged at private transfer stations in the Seattle area in 1996. In 1996, the city charged a per ton tip fee of $94 at its transfer stations, therefore; trash costs may be underestimated. ***ln order to estimate what per household costs might have been if Seattle 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. ------- |