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Consultant: multifamily residents have limited access to recycling; single‑family diversion at 29% in 2024
Summary
Burns & McDonnell told council that single‑family households generated roughly 59,000 tons in 2024 with about 29% diverted; multifamily properties often lack minimum recycling services, producing inequities the city may address through outreach or code changes.
Julie Davis, project manager for Burns & McDonnell, summarized the study's key findings on service equity and diversion. “In 2024, there was an estimated 59,000 tons of material generated by the single family residential sector,” she told the committee, and the presentation noted curbside programs diverted about 29% of that material and city‑administered programs accounted for roughly 2,000 tons.
Davis contrasted single‑family service — weekly trash and weekly recycling, yard waste 40 weeks a year and a bulky‑item pickup — with multifamily service, which is typically provided via commercial dumpsters and lacks minimum recycling requirements. She said most multifamily property owners do not select recycling and that interviews and survey responses indicate space constraints and contamination fee concerns deter multifamily operators from offering recycling.
The consultant recommended continuing voluntary multifamily diversion programs while expanding education and outreach, and presented regulatory options that could require multifamily generators or revise hauler permit requirements; any regulatory change would require a code revision. “We could modify the permit hauler requirements that would require haulers to provide the same level of service that they are for single family or… have requirements on the multifamily generator,” Davis said.
Council members emphasized they want to consider both voluntary supports and potential regulatory steps in a deliberative process.
