First, some statistics about the state of apartment recycling in Iowa City based on results from a 2012 pilot program conducted by the City of Iowa City:
-45%, or 12,000 households in Iowa City do not receive City recycling service
-75% of trash sent to Iowa City Landfill could have been recycled or composted
-The pilot program locations averaged $2.57 recycling cost per unit per month, and 94.5% of respondents in the post-pilot project survey said “all apartments & condominiums in Iowa City should have recycling programs.”
Last fall, University of Iowa Student Government worked on an “Apartmentship in Recycling" campaign to encourage property owners to provide recycling services for multifamily apartments. We conducted a survey which showed 83% of students would be willing to pay a $2.50/month fee for recycling services, coordinated with students to send over 90 emails to over 15 different property owners, and passed out 150 letters for students to include in their rent checks seeking apartment recycling. In UISG’s recently launched crowdsourced idea-generation website for campus, Iowa Ideas, the second most popular proposal is to increase access to multifamily recycling.
Finally, multifamily apartment recycling projects have met with great success almost everywhere they have been implemented. Cities in the Big Ten with multifamily recycling services include Ann Arbor, Champaign, Columbus, East Lansing, and Minneapolis. The City of Davis, home to the University of California Davis (which has been ranked 11th in the world by the Green Metric Ranking of World Universities), provides apartment recycling bins to multi-family properties and achieved more than a 50% citywide diversion rate in 2001. These are the campuses and cities the University of Iowa and Iowa City should be emulating as they work together to connect the students and the community on improving sustainability.
We and the undersigned petitioners therefore request that the City of Iowa City implement programs that will guarantee access to on-site recycling for all tenants of apartment complexes.
Jeffrey Ding, Vice President of University of Iowa Student Government
Evan McCarthy, City Council Liaison for University of Iowa Student Government
Updates
November 12, 2014
We just hit one hundred signatures. It has been a long road of ignored emails and quiet offices so this feels like a real step forward.
Reached 1,000 supporters
November 11, 2014
Reached 100 supporters
November 10, 2014
November 10, 2014
The path forward has been slow and exhausting because the property owners are still ignoring these numbers. We are nearing the first hundred signatures and I need you to pass this link to one other tenant before we lose momentum.
November 8, 2014
The path to one thousand signatures has been exhausting but we have to keep moving forward. Please get this in front of others because we need to reach that threshold before we can reasonably demand a meeting with city officials.
711 Comments
We have to run our Recycling to a Center once a week because we have so much. This is so inconvenient and I know we are the only ones doing it in my apartment complex. We need recycling that is more convenient so others will do it as well.
Not everyone living in Iowa City apartments has a car to drive to the recycling center or even knows it exists. The amount of recyclable waste filling the dumpster at my building is hugely concerning. It is shameful apartments here do not provide recycling.
I TOTALLY support this cause. I have recycled my whole life, and feel horrible by the amount of products I have thrown away within my college career. I would expect Iowa City, a green and liberally minded city to have the means to offer recycling services to students
I lived in the dorms last year with access to recycling, which was great! Now I am in an off-campus apartment with no recycling services and I cringe every time I throw away a bottle, box, etc. PLEASE keep working to get landlords to agree to recycling services!!!
It is essential that the City of Iowa City cooperates to provide recycling services to apartment complexes. Iowa City currently is a sad example of a town that does not embrace sustainability and the local and global benefits that come with it.
The United States desperately needs more of its citizens to recycle things like plastics and bottles, to reduce pollution.
Recycling
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First, some statistics about the state of apartment recycling in Iowa City based on results from a 2012 pilot program conducted by the City of Iowa City:
-45%, or 12,000 households in Iowa City do not receive City recycling service
-75% of trash sent to Iowa City Landfill could have been recycled or composted
-The pilot program locations averaged $2.57 recycling cost per unit per month, and 94.5% of respondents in the post-pilot project survey said “all apartments & condominiums in Iowa City should have recycling programs.”
Last fall, University of Iowa Student Government worked on an “Apartmentship in Recycling" campaign to encourage property owners to provide recycling services for multifamily apartments. We conducted a survey which showed 83% of students would be willing to pay a $2.50/month fee for recycling services, coordinated with students to send over 90 emails to over 15 different property owners, and passed out 150 letters for students to include in their rent checks seeking apartment recycling. In UISG’s recently launched crowdsourced idea-generation website for campus, Iowa Ideas, the second most popular proposal is to increase access to multifamily recycling.
Finally, multifamily apartment recycling projects have met with great success almost everywhere they have been implemented. Cities in the Big Ten with multifamily recycling services include Ann Arbor, Champaign, Columbus, East Lansing, and Minneapolis. The City of Davis, home to the University of California Davis (which has been ranked 11th in the world by the Green Metric Ranking of World Universities), provides apartment recycling bins to multi-family properties and achieved more than a 50% citywide diversion rate in 2001. These are the campuses and cities the University of Iowa and Iowa City should be emulating as they work together to connect the students and the community on improving sustainability.
We and the undersigned petitioners therefore request that the City of Iowa City implement programs that will guarantee access to on-site recycling for all tenants of apartment complexes.
Jeffrey Ding, Vice President of University of Iowa Student Government
Evan McCarthy, City Council Liaison for University of Iowa Student Government
Updates
November 12, 2014
We just hit one hundred signatures. It has been a long road of ignored emails and quiet offices so this feels like a real step forward.
Reached 1,000 supporters
November 11, 2014
Reached 100 supporters
November 10, 2014
November 10, 2014
The path forward has been slow and exhausting because the property owners are still ignoring these numbers. We are nearing the first hundred signatures and I need you to pass this link to one other tenant before we lose momentum.
November 8, 2014
The path to one thousand signatures has been exhausting but we have to keep moving forward. Please get this in front of others because we need to reach that threshold before we can reasonably demand a meeting with city officials.
711 Comments
I take my recycling to the center off of Benton, but many residents do not even know they have this option! Visiting the recycling center is a hassle for many. I would be delighted to pay a small fee for this program to be in place ASAP!
We have to run our Recycling to a Center once a week because we have so much. This is so inconvenient and I know we are the only ones doing it in my apartment complex. We need recycling that is more convenient so others will do it as well.
Not everyone living in Iowa City apartments has a car to drive to the recycling center or even knows it exists. The amount of recyclable waste filling the dumpster at my building is hugely concerning. It is shameful apartments here do not provide recycling.
I TOTALLY support this cause. I have recycled my whole life, and feel horrible by the amount of products I have thrown away within my college career. I would expect Iowa City, a green and liberally minded city to have the means to offer recycling services to students
I lived in the dorms last year with access to recycling, which was great! Now I am in an off-campus apartment with no recycling services and I cringe every time I throw away a bottle, box, etc. PLEASE keep working to get landlords to agree to recycling services!!!
It is essential that the City of Iowa City cooperates to provide recycling services to apartment complexes. Iowa City currently is a sad example of a town that does not embrace sustainability and the local and global benefits that come with it.
The United States desperately needs more of its citizens to recycle things like plastics and bottles, to reduce pollution.
Recycling
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I take my recycling to the center off of Benton, but many residents do not even know they have this option! Visiting the recycling center is a hassle for many. I would be delighted to pay a small fee for this program to be in place ASAP!