Effective Waste Management in Urban  Developments:

Facts:

• Apartments & flats now account for 15% of the nations housing stock in Ireland (census 2006).
• Most multi-use development schemes constructed since 2000 comprise residential and commercial units in Ireland.
• Such schemes usually have shared waste management areas or “refuse rooms”.
• Tenants of these developments pay a “service charge” which includes waste management costs – so there is no financial incentive to reduce or prevent waste.
• 26% of household waste was recovered for recycling in 2007 in the Limerick Clare Kerry Region  – the target for recovery of household waste is 50%.

The extent to which waste arising from apartments, retail and commercial units within mixed use developments is recovered can depend on the quality of information available to the tenants of the facility as well as the physical space dedicated for waste management.

How can you reduce or prevent waste arising from mixed use developments?

Step 1: Conduct a waste audit to determine the quantity and type of waste arising:

• More information is available in the resources section of the website on how to conduct a waste audit.
• Contact your waste management company to get historic data about waste disposal & recycling costs from the facility, as well as the number of weekly lifts.
• Set a target for improving recycling rates from the different tenants of the facility.

Step 2: Conduct an audit of how waste flows through the building and of the waste management area:

• Is the waste management area adequate for the needs of the building?.
• Is the segregation of waste made easy for tenants?
• Is the waste management area well-lit and ventilated?
• Is there signage about waste & recycling for tenants?
• Does the facilities manager or caretaker spend adequate time in the waste management area?

Step 3: Set targets and conduct a communications campaign:

• Waste prevention can be achieved in mixed-use developments but only if tenants can see the perceived financial and economic benefits of participating in preventing & segregating waste.
• High rates of source segregation of waste for recycling are achievable if the system is easy to use and an effective communications campaign is conducted. More information on communicating messages is in the first section of this website.

Open the resources section of the website to find out more about Waste Prevention in Apartment complexes in Limerick City.