Recycling at Apartment Buildings
Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling provides services to all multi-unit apartment buildings with four (4) or fewer dwelling units.
All apartment building owners are required by City Ordinance to provide their tenants with the opportunity to recycle.
Requirements of the Ordinance include:
Recycling containers conveniently located on the premises of each property
Adequate container volume for recycling collected by tenants of the property
Written recycling educational materials provided from the hauler to the tenants annually that includes the following information:
- Materials that can be recycled in the hauler’s recycling program
- How to prepare materials to meet recycling requirements
- How to properly dispose of hazardous waste including drop-off locations, hours of operation and contact information
4. Apartment complex owners or managers who self-haul recyclables and private recycling haulers are required to provide documentation of weights of materials collected and where they were processed semi-annually to Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling.
If your apartment building does not have recycling service, or does not have enough recycling service, contact our office. City staff will initiate the enforcement plan set forth in Ordinance after receiving notification that recycling is not available.
Tips for a Successful Apartment Building Recycling Program
1. Post signs regarding what materials can be recycled, when recycling is picked up, and where the recycling containers are located at the entrances and exits from the building.
2. Inform potential tenants of the recycling program when showing open apartments. A successful recycling program shows that the owner/manager cares about the environment and could be a deciding factor in choosing one apartment over another.
3. Distribute educational brochures on waste reduction, recycling, and Hennepin County Drop-Off Facilities to tenants when they move into the property and at least annually thereafter. Provide tenants with an update on total recycling and garbage collected each year to encourage them to recycle more.
4. Remember to collect recycling from the mail room, laundry room and other common areas. Consider providing a small reduction in rent if a tenant takes responsibility of monitoring and emptying common area recycling containers. Monitor the garbage and recycling containers on site. 
If the recycling is overflowing, request more recycling carts, increase the recycling dumpster size or increase the pickup frequency.
If the garbage is overflowing, be sure to clean it up and encourage tenants to recycle more. Provide information and resources for usable item donation and large item disposal.
As the property recycles more, the amount of garbage will decrease. If you notice that the garbage is consistently below capacity right before pick up, reduce garbage container size or decrease pickup frequency.
Remember – a solid waste management tax and Hennepin County fee are applied to garbage collection and disposal. There are no state taxes or county fees applied to recycling collection or processing. The more recycling that can be pulled from the garbage, the more likely you are to reduce your waste bill.
Hennepin County has many educational items that can assist in improving an apartment complex recycling program. Some items include: brochures, posters, cart or dumpster stickers, and even reusable bags (shown above) that can be given to each unit to collect their recycling in to bring to the recycling containers. Visit Hennepin County’s Apartment, condo and townhouse recycling webpage for more information.
Last updated Mar 10, 2019
