A grant-funded pilot program is offering free recycling pickup at several apartment buildings in Cincinnati. Curbside recycling is available for single-family homes with no extra fee, but multifamily properties have to pay for the service.
"Our goal is to reduce at least 25 percent of the trash and move it into recycling," said Recycling Manager Sue Magness. "Because then we could actually reduce garbage service and it's cost-neutral."
The pilot aims to reach 3,000 housing units with about 2,000 to go to reach that goal. Properties in the pilot so far include a few buildings with less than 20 units, which may have a few recycling carts instead of an on-site dumpster. The largest participant is 7 West 7th, the recent office-to-housing conversion of the former Macy’s headquarters Downtown, with over 300 units.
CP Cincy in Clifton has about 120 units, all occupied by University of Cincinnati students, including medical sciences major Jason Xiao.
"When I go into the trash rooms to dump my recyclables, oftentimes it's pretty full, which is probably a good indicator that a lot of people are choosing to recycle rather than throwing into the dumpster," Xiao said.
Xiao says most residents don’t have a car, so they can’t take advantage of recycling drop-off sites. He’s an ambassador for the recycling program in his building. A few times a week he takes photos of the recycling and trash dumpsters on the property and uploads them to an app.
From there, artificial intelligence analyzes the contents of the dumpsters to identify items placed in the wrong container. Magness says that information helps them educate residents on how to recycle better.
"We can say, 'Oh, look, there's a whole lot of plastic bags in there. So why don't we create a custom message to prevent people from putting in plastic bags?' " Magness said. "Or, 'There's a lot of Styrofoam in there, we'll craft a message or a door hanger about the styrofoam.' "
Magness says the biggest challenge so far has been people not breaking down cardboard boxes before putting them in the recycling; that takes up too much space in the recycling dumpster and requires more frequent pickup.
"To keep the program affordable, we need the boxes flattened," Magness said.
Once the pilot is complete, the city's Office of Environment and Sustainability will take all the data and feedback collected and go to City Council will policy recommendations.
"We pay for curbside recycling with tax dollars for people who own homes, so it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to use tax dollars for people who pay property taxes through rent to have the same access that the other people have had and enjoyed for 20 years," Magness said.
For now, the pilot is funded by an outside grant, meaning no cost to property owners or residents.
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