Recycling in Apartments

About Minto  15,500 suites under management  Located in Ottawa, Toronto and London  Mixture of town homes, garden homes, maisonettes, terrace homes, high-rise, mid-rise, and walk up apartments  Ranging from stand alone apartments to large communities

About Minto  Minto creates better places to inspire life - Dedicated to making the world a better place  Aon Hewitt’s “Green 30” - MacLeans Magazine  2010 Green Leadership Award – Hotelier Magazine  Audubon International Green Leaf Rating  180 Kent – LEED Platinum candidate development  2010 Green Builder of the Year – Ontario Home Builders’ Association  2010 Finalist in the GLOBE foundation’s Awards for Environmental Excellence SO WHAT??

Some Garbage Statistics  From Statscan 2008 KG/Capita total KG/Capita Diverted Diversion Rate Canada % Ontario %  4,000,000 plastic bottles used each day in the United States - 1 of 4 is recycled  Recycling Rates Drop in Apartments – CFRA News Radio June 2 “Apartment dwellers are not helping the City of Ottawa's waste diversion rates. The quarterly performance report for Council shows the decline in multi-residential recycling rates continued a two-year trend in the first quarter, with waste diversion dropping to 19.3 per cent”

Minto  Working on Environmental issues for over 10 years  How we deal with our customers’ waste has a huge impact on the environment  Minto 2010 Statistics from our multi-residential rental properties: KG/Suite Total KG/Suite Diverted Diversion Rate %

Garbage versus Recycling – or both??

External Factors  Toronto – migrating garbage from property tax bill to separate charge  Ottawa – organics pick up starting in multi residential in November 2012  Customer Satisfaction  Customer Co operation Garbage = financial impact to the bottom line

Internal Factors  Capital Cost for equipment (TriSorters = $30k/Building on average  Operating Cost (garbage removal)  Staff Impact (staff injury from strains and sprains)  Educating our customers on recycling, reducing, impact on the environment  Garbage room layout  Access to appropriate power sources  Ventilation  Storage space for garbage and recycling

Our Experience  Recycling centers for over 10 years  New buildings – tri-sorters in high rise  Existing buildings – experimenting with introducing tri-sorter  Experimenting with two different buildings that have identical sister buildings in same area Our experience so far?? A TALE OF TWO CITIES – “IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES”

Building #1  260 suite hi rise, built approximately 1965  Mid level building  Demographics: Mixed building with families & singles, 1.75 average occupants per suite, average age of primary occupant is 44 yrs Garbage/Yr Paper/Cardboard Plastic/metal Pre Tri Sorter Post Tri Sorter Delta Note (1) Same building, before and after Tri Sorter installation (2) All measurements in cubic yards (3) Garbage is compacted, recycling material is not compacted

Building #2  179 suite hi rise, built circa 1983  Upper mid level building (condo style)  Demographics: Mixed building, 30% students, average age of primary occupant is 34 yrs, 1.48 occupants per suite average Garbage/Yr Paper/Cardboard Plastic/metal Non Tri Sorter Tri Sorter Delta Note (1) 2 sister buildings, same time period (2) previous garbage and recycling levels in buildings nearly identical (3) all measurements in cubic yards

Keys to Success  Educate Staff  Educate the customer  Make it easy for the customer  Educate the customer  Monitor the success and evaluate the impact  Educate the customer  Include garbage protocol in move-in package  Posters in each garbage chute room Educate, Educate, Educate

Lesson Learned  Educate front line staff  Educate customers  Measure, Monitor, Measure again  Work with your suppliers for best practices  Continuous marketing (reminders, posters)  Part of move-in package and orientation  Enforcement for all those who don’t follow protocol  Make it easy and visible