Waste & recycling in Apartment communities: Guides & resources

Sustainability Victoria has developed the Guide to Better Practice for Waste Management and Recycling in Multi-unit Developments to improve waste management practices and increase recycling in apartment buildings. The guide is long so if you need a quick summary to get you started, here’s the short version.

‘How to’ waste and recycling guides for multi-unit developments

Reground, with support from partner councils and Sustainability Victoria, has developed range of tailored guides:

• How to: add a new recycling bin type to your building

• How to: dispose of hard waste correctly

• How to: give your food waste a better life!

• How to: manage your building’s private waste contract

• How to: set up a resident communication channel

• How to: set up your own bin system to increase recycling at home

• Best Practice Waste Management: Why does it matter?

Instructional posters for your waste rooms

A3 posters for Batteries | Bottles, cans and cartons | Clean paper and cardboard | Flatten cardboard boxes before recycling | E waste | Food and garden organics | Food only | General rubbish | Glass, bottles and jars | Mixed recycles | Mixed recycling (no glass) | No dumping of hard rubbish | Reusable clothing and shoes | Soft plastics

Get inspired

Managing waste and recycling in apartment building can be a big challenge but you’re not alone in trying to tackle it. Read these five case studies to see how other buildings are tackling better waste and recycling systems and engagement.

Read the research

The Best Waste Practices in Multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) project was delivered by Sustainability Victoria on behalf of the Victorian State Government. It was led and facilitated by Reground and is a collaborative venture involving 10 councils. The project delivered a waste infrastructure and education intervention program at 60 MUDs across the 10 participating councils and aims to divert waste from landfill, decrease contamination and increase recycling. The project consisted of three main phases:

• Phase 1: pre-intervention

• Phase 2: interventions

• Phase 3: post-intervention evaluation

Their report outlines the process of all three phases, presents a comparison of data collected during the pre and post-intervention phases, and discusses the key findings and learnings from the project overall.