VIRGINIA BEACH — Cities make recycling free and easy for homeowners, but some people living in apartment complexes or condo communities say doing their part is a difficult addition to an already cluttered to-do list.
It may be because multifamily properties don’t technically have to provide the service to its tenants, and many in Norfolk and Virginia Beach don’t because of space and cost.
Unlike households that have curbside pick-up thanks to city services, private contractors collect waste at apartment and condos. It’s up to the individual business to make the decision to invest in the service.
“My opinion on my apartment complex opting not to recycle is that they’re lazy and irresponsible to not offer the option to recycle for the tenants,” Beach resident Paul McCue said in an interview. “I came from an area of northern Virginia where recycling is taken very seriously.”
McCue, who lives in the Reflections at Virginia Beach, said he’s lived in the city since 2014 and that he recycles often, but is discouraged by his lack of access to re-purposing trash.
“I would be willing to pay a small fee if it meant having a separate receptacle to discard my recyclables,” McCue said. “It’s the least everyone can and should do.”
Virginia Beach waste management administrator John Barnes said the city isn’t required to service multifamily properties like apartments and condos.
“Trash collections within the city is provided by the city for single-family, townhome and duplex properties,” Barnes said. “Part of that is residential focus, making sure that residents have the service they need and some of the logic behind that is the equipment is a little bit different and the disposal needs are different.”
Barnes said apartment and condo communities have variable waste needs and the city isn’t equipped to offer services to them.
“All the services the city provides are from the public right of way, so we don’t go onto private property to provide service,” Barnes said.
The city has trucks equipped to give residents curbside service, while businesses like multifamily property businesses typically have large 8-foot bins that require different trucks to lift.
Barnes said he thinks cost and space are the reason multifamily properties might not offer the recycling services to its residents.
“You have to have the space for the thing, and you’re almost always going to increase cost for the extra set of trucks to come in,” Barnes said. “You might not necessarily double the cost, but you’re going to have some amount of increase in cost to have an additional container.”
According to Chase Arbor Apartments property manager Lauren Cumberledge, the complex off South Independence Boulevard doesn’t offer recycling to its tenants because of the cost.
“I tried looking into recycling when I took over this property,” Cumberledge said. “Corporate said no because it was too expensive. That’s all I know.”
In nearby Norfolk, the story seems to be the same, according to Trista Fayton, management services administrator for the city.
She said the city doesn’t provide Norfolk apartment complexes or condos with recycling services, but that those living in public housing operated by the city are eligible for it.
“A lot of the apartment complexes don’t have city garbage collection and they’re contracted out,” Fayton said. “For complexes that do not have city service, they can contract with an outside vendor themselves.”
Barnes said if Virginia Beach serviced multifamily properties that it could displace private companies.
“There is a healthy competition among the private haulers in providing that service for those properties, and that’s not a bad thing,” Barnes said.
One Norfolk complex that doesn’t offer the service to its residents is Talbot Park Apartments on Warren Street. Property manager Danielle Broadhurst said it doesn’t offer recycling to its residents because it doesn’t have rooms for bins.
“We have absolutely no space for extra dumpsters,” Broadhurst said. “If we did, we’d have more containers for trash.”
Broadhurst said she would be open to the idea of a service like ValetLiving, which offers recycling pick-up at doorsteps, but that it’s company policy not to have anything in the complex breezeways.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to working with the city to help smaller properties,” Broadhurst said. “Cost and space are the biggest factors.”
Fayton said there’s no law requiring businesses to offer recycling services to its renters.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality works with localities to maintain a 25 percent minimum recycling rate through promoting and creating new programs, according to its website.
According to city data, Norfolk produced 69,927 tons of garbage last year, though the percentage it recycled was not available before this story was published.
Barnes said Virginia Beach reported 211,004 tons of garbage in fiscal year 2015-16 and recycled 35 percent of it.
Southside Daily surveyed 10 apartment complexes in Virginia Beach, four reported that it offers recycling to tenants. The difference? The four that do offer the service are either luxury apartments or a high rise at the Oceanfront.
People who live in multifamily properties do have an option if their community doesn’t offer recycling, though.
According to Barnes, there are four public recycling centers in Virginia Beach — The Oceana Center on First Colonial Road, City Landfill & Resource Recovery Center on Jake Sear Road, the picnic area at First Landing State Park and a drop-off location at the Municipal Center on Nimmo Parkway.
New Beach resident Merial Gihan said the condo community she recently moved to doesn’t offer recycling, so she drives several miles to drop off what can be at the municipal center.
“I recycle, and I think I pay enough tax money that recycling should be handled well, and if it’s not, then they need to do something about fixing it,” Gihan said.
According to a DEQ 2016 report, the Commonwealth produced about 15.9 million tons of solid waste — a 1.3 million ton increase from 2015.
The waste collected is made up of household trash, construction and demolition debris, vegetative and yard waste, and other types, the study said.
Of the total waste collected last year, 13.3 million tons were taken to landfills and two million tons were burned, which left about 12 million pounds for recycling and mulching, according to the report.
The last DEQ recycling report shows a dip in numbers in Hampton Roads with recycling rates falling about 11 percent between 2011 and 2015 — one of the most significant drop-offs in the state.
Barnes said waste is a choice people make and that recycling is a “good first step” in the city’s ultimate plan to achieve a zero waste and reduction goal.
“Being aware of what you purchase and what’s going to ultimately happen to that material … those practices are usually even better than recycling,” Barnes said. “Recycling is certainly important, but it could be better.”
The easier an organization makes the access, the more people will recycle, according to Barnes. He said the city does that by providing 95-gallon recycle bins to homeowners and the public drop-off areas.
“It does require that extra effort and we fully recognize that not everybody is willing to do that,” Barnes said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article contained an incorrect last name for Merial Gihan.
Follow Justin on Twitter @Justinbmmj or send a story idea to [email protected]
