Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Not Anymore!
Princeton Properties’ Foreside Estates shows just how much access matters when it comes to recycling! Prior to a partnership with ecomaine’s Multi-Family Recycling Initiative (MFRI), this 170-unit property had a single 30-yard recycling dumpster located on one side of the campus. While the dumpster was convenient for nearby residents, other residents had to travel across campus to recycle, creating an added barrier to participation in recycling.
To read more about the MFRI team’s initial work at Foreside Estates and their work identifying access gaps, check out our previous blog post!
Working with Foreside Estates staff, the MFRI team identified an opportunity to make recycling more convenient by exchanging a redundant trash dumpster for a recycling dumpster on the opposite side of campus. Thanks to Princeton Properties’ commitment to improving recycling opportunities for its residents, this change expanded access and made recycling more convenient for residents across the property.
Measuring the Impact
As part of the MFRI program, the ecomaine team collects baseline data at every participating property. This includes four weeks of baseline data from both trash and recycling dumpsters to understand residents’ waste habits before introducing any infrastructure changes, signage or educational materials. To measure the impact of the recycling education and additional recycling dumpster access, waste auditing continued for another nine weeks.
The results? The positive impact quickly became clear!
With a new recycling dumpster in a more convenient location and educational materials to help residents recycle correctly, Foreside Estates saw a 19% increase in recycling captured over the course of the program.
The new dumpster also saw consistent use throughout the program. It was frequently more than half full and had very little contamination, demonstrating that residents were making use of this additional recycling opportunity.
What Residents are Saying
The data tells an encouraging story, but resident feedback offered another perspective on the impact of improved access. During on-site tabling events, the MFRI team heard directly from residents about their experiences with the MFRI program.
One resident shared how convenient the new recycling dumpster had been, while others offered comments such as:
“It seems like we’re getting great use out of the new dumpster; it’s always very full.”
“Thanks for coming in and doing this; the trash (in the recycling stream) has been bugging me for weeks!“
On top of residents increasing their participation in recycling, they also cleaned up their recycling stream! Given the size of this property, the residents already had a relatively low contamination rate; the amount of trash placed in the recycling. However, by the end of the program, residents reduced their recycling contamination rate by 40%! The MFRI team added educational signage on the dumpster to help direct residents with best recycling practices! See the updated signage below:
Turning Access into Impact
The MFRI team measures success in several ways, and Foreside Estates exceeded these benchmarks! Throughout the program, we saw:
✓ Increased diversion: Residents recycled 19% more after the new dumpster and education materials were introduced.
✓ Cleaner recycling: Contamination dropped by 40%.
✓ Stronger participation: Residents shared positive feedback about the increased convenience and improvements to their property’s waste streams.
The takeaway? Convenience matters. When recycling is easy to access and residents know how to do it right, they show up. Convenient locations, clear signage, and simple education give residents everything they need to make a real impact.
If you, too, want to improve recycling at your multifamily property, reach out to multifamily@ecomaine.org to learn how ecomaine’s Multi-Family Recycling Initiative can help identify solutions tailored to your property’s waste management needs!
