One by one

Apartment dwellers often lament the effort it takes to dispose of their trash and to recycle. It might be a long walk to the disposal area, so they don’t take the time to properly separate recyclables from trash. Some multifamily units don’t provide recycling facilities, and residents must take their recyclables to a community drop-off site instead. Property owners, as well, often don’t encourage participation in recycling or composting programs, while haulers have a financial incentive for frequent trash pickups. For all these reasons, the problem persists.

Ron Falcon has been aware of the ineffectiveness and lack of multifamily recycling and composting for some time. He says he worked for a company that offered doorstep collection services for multifamily housing. It sounded like a great idea, but apartment managers and residents didn’t like the extra fees associated with the program. Four years ago, he set out to do something about it. Falcon decided to start a company that not only would collect trash, recyclables and compost from apartment residents daily but that also would save customers money.

He formed Integrity Waste in 2012 and has been improving or introducing recycling and composting services in several multifamily complexes across California, building interest everywhere he goes.

Integrity Waste’s first client was Stoneridge Apartments, a 500-unit community in Pleasanton, California. By 2015, the company had contracts with 13 different property management firms in more than 75 communities, and Stoneridge Apartments is still one of Integrity Waste’s best customers.

Falcon, CEO of the company, says, “We are now focusing on signing national agreements with companies such as Mercy Housing and Avalon Bay. We will be expanding into the Northwest and Southeast part of the U.S. by the end of the summer.”

He says the company tripled in size in 2015 and expects it to do the same in 2016.

HOW IT WORKS

Novato, California-based Integrity Waste provides two main functions. “We do doorstep collection, and we maintain the property,” Falcon says. “We clean up the common trash area, doggy stations and help with bulk and e-waste.”

On an average day, a worker arrives at a property at 8 a.m. and checks the property’s trash areas to ensure they are clean.

“If he sees any recyclables on top, he will remove that [material] and put it in the franchise hauler’s bin. If there is trash on top of the recycling bin, he will remove it and put it in the trash.” Falcon adds that workers actually do not go through the trash and recycling containers, they only sort the material that is outside or on top of the bins.

Trash and recycling are picked up at residents’ doorsteps, sorted and placed into the proper collection bin. “Sorting is done at the site of disposal,” explains Falcon. “We get a much cleaner trash, much better recycling and a much cleaner compost.”

He says every property Integrity serves has at least doubled its recycling rate. “In some places, it has gone up 400 percent.”

Add organics to the picture, and any amount of composting is more than that property was doing before, Falcon says.

If the complex’s program includes composting service, food waste is collected at each door and placed in the on-site composting bin. Most haulers do not have contracts for wet waste; many of the apartment communities use the compost created in community gardens, or Integrity Waste hauls the organics off-site to a commercial composter.

“What haulers want is clean recycling. What property owners want is not to have to deal with trash. We give the haulers that clean recycling they need and take away anything having to deal with trash for the property management companies.” – Ron Falcon

“We want to get a compost pale in the hands of every apartment resident in California,” says Falcon, who says such a step would prevent millions of pounds of food waste from entering landfills.

Integrity Waste often is misunderstood, Falcon says. “Haulers think we haul or supply our own bins, but we don’t. We prefer the hauler do it; but, most haulers don’t have organics collection for multifamily, and they don’t want to implement something because it will cost them money.”

When a property manager contracts with Integrity Waste, Integrity becomes the primary contact for the trash hauler. “We’ll make any changes with the hauler, whether it is addition or subtraction of bins, whether it is addition and subtraction of pickups—we will deal with that,” he says.

Integrity Waste benefits the hauler and the property owner, he says. “What haulers want is clean recycling. What property owners want is not to have to deal with trash. We give the haulers that clean recycling they need and take away anything having to deal with trash for the property management companies.”

DIVERSION EQUALS DOLLARS

By increasing recycling and composting rates for multifamily communities, Integrity Waste creates savings for property managers because the company’s efforts typically result in less trash.

“All apartment communities that don’t have our service are over-serviced, hands down,” Falcon insists. “I can walk on a community and know whether they are over-serviced. All of them are.”

One 121-unit community in La Quinta, California, for example using Integrity Waste should have about 13 to 16 yards of trash being removed per week, but it had 96 yards of trash being removed.

“They are charged by the volume of trash or amount of bins on the site. We start removing bins, bringing in recycling bins, and pickups go from three days a week to one day a week. It cuts their trash bill by as much as 70 percent,” Falcon says.

“Their overall savings once they pay us is anywhere from 10 to 50 percent.”

Cutting into the profits of major waste haulers isn’t always met with the warmest reception. Integrity Waste has gotten some negative feedback from some of them, Falcon admits. But as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. Falcon says a few haulers, including Phoenix-based Republic Services, have begun to reach out to the company to partner on contracts. He also points out that many haulers don’t want to deal with organics, which Integrity Waste handles.

Trying to get the attention of property managers also has not been easy for Integrity Waste, Falcon admits. The company has had much better success gaining the support of municipalities and having them spread the message about Integrity’s services. The company’s services appeal to city recycling managers who want to increase diversion rates.

Working with municipalities and haulers is building Integrity’s momentum. The company has been working with Republic Services as well as with Daley City and Union City, California.

What began as a pilot program in Union City continues to expand. “We are still in Union City and creating a lot of diversion,” Falcon says. “We have also started service at a few other properties in Union City but have yet to agree with the city and Republic to roll out service to the entire city.”

Increasing recycling in multifamily dwellings is the only way communities are going to get to the landfill diversion rates they are trying to achieve, he says. “If we don’t divert from the multifamily, then we are never going to reach the 75 percent that the state [of California] is wanting. Multifamily has been neglected for so long. Apartment communities generate 30 million pounds of food waste. That stuff can be diverted through recycling service.”

Falcon adds, “This is the future. I can’t think of any other way to get the diversion up for multifamily. There is no doubt in my mind we are at the cutting edge. I’ve seen it change in just the few years we have been in business. We are going toward not having any trash come out of apartment communities at all.”

The author is an editor with the Recycling Today Media Group and can be reached at ksmith@gie.net.