Thread: Do you recycle at your facility?

We all know how important recycling is. What kind of recycling practices do you have at your facility? Do you recycle paper in the office? Do you have places around the facility where tenants can add items like paper, soda cans or water bottles?

How about recycling other stuff, like furniture, clothes and other household items? U-Haul recently introduced a reuse program that gives tenants another option to discard old clothes and other household items. They've set up donation bins for the Salvation Army and Goodwill so tenants can donate these items rather than throwing them in the dumptster or leaving them behind in a unit.

Scary stat: It takes a million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill. How many glass bottles are being thrown in your dumpster?

We do not have dumpsters or recycling bins for tenants at our facility. The tenants are supposed to carry out everything they carry in. That works most of the time. We decided years ago that bins and dumpsters are a liability around here. Of course on my walks around the property, I generally do find some trash and/or recyclables. When I find stuff in a vacated unit I do my best to recycle or re-home it. If it is truly trash, it goes to the dump. Cans, bottles, and paper all get recycled, as well as clothes, furniture and most appliances which usually go to our homeless facility or to the recycling center.

Everything in the office gets recycled.

"How many glass bottles are being thrown in your dumpster?" zero

Our dumpsters are off limits!!!

When we took over this place the inmates were running the place and they would leave whatever they wanted by the dumpster - I got tired of dealing with other peoples pee soaked mattresses and busted up furniture so I changed the rules.

It has taken some time, but they are finally learning.

As for recycling - like geraldine1051 - if you brought it here take it with you!

The only exception is that we are an e-waste recycling drop off location. We do require you to fill out some paperwork before you can drop things off so no "dumping".

funny story about that -- this guy shows up with a pickup full of TV's and other stuff - told him he had to fill out the paperwork with address and phone number -- he left. Never saw him again.

Some people get upset when they find out that we don't pay them to recycle.

Wayne, tell me more about e-waste recycling...

It's really simple for us.

First off - E-Waste is almost any electrical devices - examples - computers, toasters ovens, microwaves, phones etc..
We can accept almost anything with an electrical cord.
We do not accept large appliances - example - washers, dryers, freezers etc..

We have a company locally that is a major E-Waste recycle and will stop by and pick up whatever you have.

We just provide a location for people to drop things off. I have set aside a 10x15 space for this purpose.

When I get enough for a pallet or two I call them and they come pick it up.

To prevent dumping (or stolen items) I require them to fill out paperwork with name, address, phone and what you are dropping off.

It's better then having it all end up in the landfill or worse - in the rivers.or desert.

Thanks, Wayne. If you're in California, you can check this website telling you how to get involved.

Anyone else involved in this type of recycling? I know many, many cities and counties, especially small ones, are not doing ANY recycling at all. Homeowners who are into recycling have tow their own stuff to a recycle center. And some are asked to PAY to recycle. What's the incentive there? Seems like there should be more from our government in every state to make recycling a priority.

Hi Amy,

They changed the URL; it's now: http://www1.ciwmb.ca.gov/Electronics...lerSearch.aspx

They tucked in the "1" in the www after some site maintenance.

We recycle also, CA is making it costlier to not recycle, more later gotta run for now.

Originally Posted by acampbell

How about recycling other stuff, like furniture, clothes and other household items? U-Haul recently introduced a reuse program that gives tenants another option to discard old clothes and other household items. They've set up donation bins for the Salvation Army and Goodwill so tenants can donate these items rather than throwing them in the dumptster or leaving them behind in a unit.

We have a donation unit set up for a local nonprofit. It works wonders for items that people would normally leave behind and provides traffic to our site for people to drop off items for the shelter.

I am thinking about setting up recycling bins for our/tenant use next to the dumpster.

As for the dumpster, I have an ongoing battle with one of our landscapers who seems to think our property is his for his personal business use. I've just looked into a locking dumpster to alleviate this problem.

StorGal