Laserfiche WebLink
have no responsibility to arrange garbage and recycling service, or feel less connec�ion to the <br />City, it can be harder to inform and engage multi-family complex residents in recycling programs. <br />The keys to getting multi-family complex residents to recycle are continuing education and <br />convenience. That point was stressed in the committee's discussion of multi-family camplex <br />recycling with Marilynn Corcoran Recycling Coordinatar for Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, <br />Crystal and New Hope and in focus group discussions with multi-family residents, multi-family <br />complex owners and managers, and with garbage haulers. <br />Cities with successfiil multi-family recycling programs use multiple means of educating resi- <br />dents. The cities work closely with private recycling companies and building managers to create <br />simple, easy to understand education pieces. Those pieces are usually given out when residents <br />move in and are re-sent to residents periodically thereafter. Another key is to find a resident or <br />manager who serves as a contact and information source for residents. There also need to be <br />clearly labeled recycling containers preferably with pictures. <br />Brooklyn Park's apartment recycling totes <br />A]ittle innovation can also make the program <br />convenient for multi-family complex residents to <br />recycle. An example is Corcoran's award win- <br />ning recycling tote bag (see photo at right). <br />Owners and managers mount Velcro strips in <br />units. The totes have Velcro and are attached to <br />Velcro strips. The bags provide a convenient <br />storage place for the recycling that can easily be <br />taken and dumped into a central recycling bin. <br />The bags can be washed to prevent odor and <br />stains. The cities Corcoran works for paid for the <br />bags and she coordinated with the complex <br />owners and manager to have them installed. <br />Multi-family complexes use storage bins in designated locations for collection of recyclable <br />material. The recycling hauler then empties the storage bins. This system saves on storage space <br />and makes it more convenient for residents �o use. However the bins can appear to be similar to <br />garbage bins and contamination is a significant problem at multi-family complexes according to <br />recycling haulers, multi-family residents and multi-family managers and owners that took part in <br />focus group discussions. <br />An additional hurdle found in growing suburbs such as Brooklyn Park is the growing population <br />of residents who speak English as a second language. Based on focus group conversations with <br />multi-family residents, owners and managers this does not appear to be a significant issue in <br />Roseville yet. However with approXimately 18% of Roseville's population living in multi-family <br />compleXes the potential is there for language barriers to become a significant issue. <br />Results on English as a second language have not been released from the 2000 Census yet. <br />According to the 1990 Census 1.7% of Roseville residents said they did not speak English well. <br />About half of those residents (0.8%) spoke an Asian or Pacific Island language. The only other <br />54 <br />