TOWSON, MD—The Baltimore County Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) has launched a pilot program to improve recycling and reduce contamination in multi-family housing communities. The program aims to address challenges faced by residents in these communities, such as limited space for storing recyclables and lack of convenient drop-off points.

The initiative began with 410 units at the Twin Ridge Apartment complex in Pikesville and has since expanded to include three other communities: Carriage Hill Apartments in Randallstown, Gwynn Oaks Apartments in Windsor Mill, and Morningside Apartments in Owings Mills. The program involves providing residents with educational materials about recycling guidelines and distributing reusable recycling tote bags. Oversized educational decals have also been placed on recycling dumpsters within the communities. DPWT educated residents about recycling with property managers.

“This pilot program helps us overcome some of the operational hurdles of recycling in multi-family housing communities,” said Nicholas Rodricks, DPWT’s Chief of the Bureau of Solid Waste. “Not everyone has the ability to simply place their recyclables in a bin and wheel it out to the curb. This program allows us to meet people where they are and improve recycling in Baltimore County.”

The program is funded through the Bureau of Solid Waste, which also collects residential materials from approximately 243,000 single-family homes and 82,000 multi-family units in Baltimore County and Harford County. The Bureau handles nearly 1 million tons of trash or recyclables annually and processes over 75,000 tons of recyclable material through the Central Acceptance Facility in Cockeysville.

DPWT plans to expand the program to include 10 multi-family home communities, totaling over 10,000 units. This expansion aims to further increase recycling, reduce contamination, and extend the lifespan of the Eastern Sanitary Landfill in White Marsh.

The program follows a county study last year which revealed that residents in multi-family housing communities were less satisfied with trash and recycling collection services compared to those in single-family homes. The study also found that residents in multi-family communities felt they lacked space to store recyclables and had limited access to drop-off points.

Kristen Centeno, assistant property manager at Twin Ridge Apartments, has seen a positive response to the program. “We’ve always had recycling, but it was always in the background,” said Centeno. “When Baltimore County approached us about this program and we announced it to our community, there was a renewed and increased interest in recycling. We’ve had such a great response that we are adding on an additional day of recycling pick-ups.”

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

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