Sixty per cent solution

From the official waste assessment of the condo complex (aka snooping through our trash) the city recycling guy estimates we could reduce our trash by 60% if we recycled everything all possible materials. Sixty per cent is significant. Heck, I was married for nineteen years to a man who was rarely rated in the sixtieth percentile in national standardized testing for diversion and other forms of amusement.

One thing that would help get more apartment and condominium complexes recycling is to make sure tenants receive current information on what can be recycled, how (sorted or single stream, paper only, labels removed?...), and where the nearest drop-off locations are for them. Maybe this could be accomplished by mass mailing postcards every six months, or by requiring this information to be imparted at the time a lease is signed. I'm smarter than the average bear, as Yogi would say, but finding this information hasn't been a snap. I also think management companies could be required to print the information in the complex newsletters at least every six months, and post it at mail box locations. It would be a nice break from reading the rules for cleaning up after your pet! Would you rather take a bag of crushed cans and shredded paper to the dumpster, or hold a baggy of warm dog poop in your hand? Perhaps the ubiquitous "condo dogs", chihuahas and poodles could be equipped with tiny backpacks or Sioux-style travois for hauling recyclables to the collection bin!


The Raytheon WASTE program involves incentives and quotas for departments to maximize reuse and recycling. That's why we art teachers send back photos of how we use the recycled materials in classes. We help motivate the employees.

How best to motivate condo and apartment residents and managers? When I met with Christopher Day, the Commercial Diversion Coordinator of Environmental Waste Services for the City of Plano, I told him about some of our hostile condo association relations of late. He told me that recycling can be a community-building program. I'm thinking of those United Way charts that show if a business is meeting its contribution goal, and the banners marking a community as a "Tree City". How can pride and unity be built through recognizing complex participation in "waste diversion programs"? Could the mayor read a proclamation at a city council meeting (on public access cable t.v.) when a complex achieves full participation? Could Mother Earth blow kisses and sign autographs?