Are you an apartment dweller in New York City? Do you want to learn how to do a better job of recycling your trash? Would you like to see your neighbors improve their recycling effort? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you will want to know more about a program of the Department of Sanitation of the City of New York (DSNY) called the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (ABRI).
Here’s how it works. The ABRI Outreach Coordinator will set up an intensive 1 to 2 hour training session for interested residents in your building, the super and those members of the building staff charged with trash collection. This is followed by a site visit to the building to evaluate existing recycling practices and to recommend changes. Those changes usually include placing illustrated decals on recycling containers – blue for beverage cartons, metal, glass bottles and jars and plastic bottles and jugs and green for mixed paper and cardboard. Education of all residents as well as building staff is a key element of the program. Besides making available easily understood educational materials for all tenants, DSNY will conduct follow-up training at the apartment building whenever 10 or more residents express a commitment to attend.
Signing up for ABRI couldn’t be easier. Ask your building manager to go to the DSNY website, www.nyc.gov/wasteless/abri and provide the information requested on the relatively simple form. If you want to arrange an on-site training for 12 or more residents/building staff, fill out the last section on the registration form and within days the ABRI Outreach Coordinator will respond with a proposed training date.
The Apartment Building Recycling Initiative is a win-win for everyone involved. Residents will see an improved recycling rate at their building; the building staff should be spending far less time correcting the recycling errors of individual apartment residents, thus freeing staff to do other important work that will benefit all residents; and, the Environment will see a greater amount of recycling and far less waste going to noxious landfills.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact CIVITAS at info@civitasnyc.org or call 212-996-0745.
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