&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).

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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.

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