At Foreside Estates in Falmouth, a 170-unit property and one of Multi-Family Recycling Initiative’s (MFRI) newest partner communities, residents will soon have an easier path to recycling.
Through a partnership with MFRI, a new recycling dumpster will be added to the property this June, expanding access and making participation easier for residents.
Convenience is one of the biggest factors impacting whether an individual will recycle consistently. When recycling infrastructure is limited or hard to reach, even well-intentioned residents can fall back on the easier option. By expanding physical access to recycling, we can remove one of the most common barriers to participation.
Filling the Recycling Gap at Foreside Estates
Foreside Estates spans a large campus with five designated waste areas, each with one or two trash dumpsters. However, there is only one recycling dumpster serving all residents, located at the edge of the property. While residents closest to it have easy access, those on the opposite side face enough friction that many don’t participate in recycling regularly, if at all.
This past winter, the MFRI team conducted waste audits across all dumpsters and found a clear pattern. Dumpsters nearest to the recycling bin had far fewer missed recyclables (items that were placed in the trash that could have been recycled), while those farther away showed much higher amounts of recyclable material being thrown in the trash. The data told an explicit story: distance is a barrier.
Moving the Needle, One Bin at a Time
In collaboration with Property Manager Julia Vattaso, the property will replace a secondary trash dumpster on the opposite side of the property with a recycling dumpster beginning in June. Providing access on both sides of the property is an exciting and meaningful step toward increasing waste diversion and improving recycling outcomes for the entire community.
The new dumpster is just one piece of a broader 12-week program launching at Foreside Estates, which will also include updated signage, community presentations, educational resources, and weekly waste audits to track progress.
We’ll be reporting back this fall with data on how expanding access impacted recycling rates at Foreside Estates. Stay tuned by subscribing to our monthly newsletter or visiting our blog page here.
