Agenda Information Sheet
DEPARTMENT: Solid Waste
CM/ ACM: John Fortune
Date: March 6, 2017
SUBJECT
Title
Receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff direction on improving multifamily recycling participation.
Body
BACKGROUND
The apartment rental market in Denton is growing at a rapid rate. Current statistics show a total of 471 multi-family complexes in Denton, and new complexes are continually being built. Despite this tremendous growth, Denton's apartment and multi-family complexes are consistently among the lowest in the city for recycling participation rates. For fiscal year 2016, commercial multi-family recycling amounted to just 7.2 % of the City's recycling accounts.
SW&R Department staff are recommending a two-fold approach to encourage recycling participation among apartment and multi-family residences: 1) increase marketing of recycling services to these properties; and 2) adopt new policies specifically targeted to encourage elective participation in multi-family residential recycling.
DISCUSSION
The Denton Development Code (DDC) and the Site Plan Criteria Manual for Municipal Solid Waste and Recyclables require that new and major remodel projects have enclosures for both trash and recycling dumpsters (DDC Chapter 35.13.13.7). Current customers are exempted from the enclosure requirement if construction was approved by the Development Review Committee (DRC) prior to 2006. Aside from these specifications regarding enclosures, there is currently no language in the DDC, Site Plan Criteria Manual, or the Denton Code of Ordinances that requires recycling participation for Denton's commercial solid waste customers.
Communities throughout Texas have implemented mandatory recycling for multi-family residential complexes, including Austin, San Antonio, and San Marcos. However, none of these cities have achieved 100% participation in recycling services from multi-family residences. Instead, they have seen increasing challenges in enforcem...
Click here for full text