Apartment Recycling

The “Company Profile” is an Earth911.com series highlighting consumer goods and services making a difference through product stewardship and recycling. Products and services featured do not pay for placement and are not endorsed by Earth911.com.

For many apartment residents, the inconvenience of recycling – separating, storing and hauling – is often a main deterrent to keeping recyclables out of the trash.

When Jonathan Hildreth, owner of Waste Management Concierge, founded his business in 2006, he sought to offer a premium recycling service that would change all of that.

Need a recycling solution for a small space? Waste Management Concierge takes the dilemma out of apartment recycling and trash. Photo: About.com

Making Recycling Rewarding

Hildreth’s company picks up recycling and trash five, six or seven nights a week from the residences it works with, making it easy for every tenant to recycle as much as possible using one bag for everything. Here’s how it works:

• Property managers sign up for the concierge service and determine how many nights a week they would like recycling and trash collected.
• Waste Management Concierge provides each residence with recycling information and separate bags for trash and single-stream recycling (aluminum, plastic, glass, cardboard and paper can all be placed in one bag).
• Residents leave their recycling and trash outside their doors for an evening collection between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
• Waste Management Concierge brings the trash to the community’s dumpster and transports all recycling back to its sorting facility in a small truck where it is weighed and separated.
• The communities that recycle the most receive incentives such as gift cards and parties that are paid for by the funds generated when recyclables are sold.

Young Owner With Fresh Solutions

Hildreth started the company fresh out of college at the age of 22. He had lived abroad for most of his youth and saw devastating waste management situations in several different countries, which heightened his awareness about the need for education, recycling and reduction.

Once at college in North Carolina, he realized that he was still throwing away many recyclables because a convenient system for recycling was not in place. Waste Management Concierge started working with apartment communities in North Carolina and has since expanded to several states throughout the U.S.

According to Hildreth, “Our service is great for the residents and the property managers because we provide, among many other benefits, month-to-month reports on how much is recycled, and people can see the tangible difference they are making with just a bit more effort.”

Recycling Is Easier Than Taking Out the Trash

According to Hildreth, “We make it easy for residents to recycle by providing education, incentives and convenience.” In addition to the obvious benefit that Waste Management Concierge offers by reducing the amount of trash making its way to the landfill, the company is continuously looking to take their environmental efforts a step further.

For every apartment community that signs up for the service, the company plants 5,000 trees with Trees for the Future. In addition, it picks up big-box items such as used washers and dryers or couches and chairs. Anything that still has life left in it is donated to a local Goodwill.

“Every effort is made to reuse or recycle items before they are discarded,” says Hildreth.

Residents can put their recyclables and trash in bags in the hallway on collection days, saving space and a trip to the dumpster. Photo: Bludomain.typepad.com

Really in the Reduction Business

Most waste management companies started out as haulers that were simply picking up trash and getting it out of the way. Hildreth says that there has been a clear shift towards a business model that strives to find additional ways to raise recycling rates.

“Consumers are demanding greener practices from waste management companies, and therefore in order to maintain a competitive edge, companies are looking for ways to help their customers maximize their reduction and recycling practices,” he says.

Innovation and Education

Hildreth spends his days helping residents and property managers recycle, but the most rewarding part of his job is educating the public about ways to reduce overall output of trash and live a more environmentally responsible lifestyle.

“I enjoy working with the different communities to decide where to plant the 5,000 trees and getting the word out about tangible steps people can take to go green, rather than just being one of those people that talks about it,” he says.

Finding Promise in the Future

With plans to expand to more of the Sun Belt states, Hildreth would eventually like his company to be a national waste management provider. However, he is also wary of growing too quickly. “We don’t want to grow to be too large that we can’t provide a great recycling service that educates people about the importance of reducing their overall waste,” he says.

Favorite of the Three R’s

Hildreth may be most familiar with recycling since it’s the focus of his day-to-day operations, but his experience dealing with refuse has convinced him that the emphasis should be placed on reduction.

“What we don’t consume, will not become garbage, and therefore won’t end up in the landfill. If we can all minimize the amount of frivolous and unnecessary purchases such as plastic water bottles, we can save the raw materials and energy needed for both recycling and making new products.”

Read more from Libuse Binder at Weekly Way.