Some students recycle by putting bottles and paper in bins.
Others use those same bottles as vases filled with flowers or
decorations to line the balconies and shelves of their
apartments.
Regardless of how they do it, many students at UCLA recycle,
including those who are residents in the local apartments. But many
have expressed concern over the lack of recycling facilities at
their apartment complexes.
In many cases, apartment residents do not have the facilities to
recycle nor the option of having companies sort recyclables for
them.
Anne Reichman, director of Earth 911, a national recycling
advocacy group, said it is common to find apartments without
recycling facilities.
“(It is) not easy to coordinate apartment
recycling,” Reichman said, explaining that several steps must
be taken by both management and residents in order to properly
execute apartment recycling.
Reichman said a common complaint of apartment owners and
managers is that the bins provided for recycling are not utilized
properly.
She said they can be misused by the residents, who may put
non-recyclable items inside the recycling bins.
Other issues involve the physical facilities available for
dumpsters or containers.
“One of the biggest problems that apartment buildings have
is space constraint,” said Steve Kaufman, vice president of
the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association.
Kaufman said, in many cases, there is no room for additional
containers within the apartment complexes.
Kevin Diestel, a fourth-year business economics student, said
given the proper resources he would support recycling at his
apartment building, and believed many other students would as
well.
Diestel lives in a residence on Midvale Avenue, located between
Ophir and Levering avenues. The complex has no specific facilities
for the disposal of recyclable trash.
Tanya Barnett, a third-year political science student who lives
in the same building, echoed these sentiments, saying that the
majority of those she knew in Westwood apartments who recycle
already have the proper facilities available.
Last year, a group of students tried to make recycling a
priority for the management, but the management did not respond to
their concerns, and interest in organized recycling eventually died
down, Diestel said.
The building’s apartment manager ““ who wished to be
referred to only as Jorge for fear of discipline from upper
management ““ said recycling-specific containers were
eliminated from the complex’s premises a few years ago due to
misuse of recycling facilities.
By his estimate, of every 100 residents, 10 might voice concerns
over the absence of recycling containers.
But he added that even though there are no containers present,
his residents’ trash is recycled.
He said this is carried out by the waste management company at
their station, where the recyclables are sorted from the general
trash from the complex.
The misuse of dumpsters was an important factor in the
complex’s decision to stop using containers specifically for
recycling, because as soon as a container is contaminated with
non-recyclables, the recycling truck can no longer take it, Jorge
said.
In addition to improper use of resources, costs for recycling
services can cause apartment managers to decide against providing
recycling for residents, Reichman said. These costs can be
forwarded to residents through increased rent at times, she
added.
But Jorge said this was not a factor in the decision to
eliminate recycling containers, because the cost to have the waste
management company sort the recycling on its own was insignificant
““ only an extra 18 cents.
But in order to provide any sort of on-site recycling
facilities, commitment from residents is the key element in making
sure trash is properly disposed of, Jorge said.