Update: my building hit 42 percent recycling last month and I think the trick was stupid simple

Derek Gonzalez · 2026-11-04T03:00:04.694841+00:00

I started tracking our apartment building's recycling rate back in January because our landlord kept saying nobody cared. Last month we hit 42 percent, up from 19 percent in January, and I honestly did not think the number would move that fast. The big change was not a new bin or a fancy sign. It was taping a one page cheat sheet to the lid of every dumpster in the alley behind the building, right in Cleveland Heights. People were tossing pizza boxes and greasy containers in the recycling because they did not know the rules, and once the list was staring at them at the moment of the toss, the trash bags full of bottles stopped showing up. I checked the bins myself every Sunday for six months and the drop in contaminated loads was real. I am not saying a piece of paper saves the planet, but 42 percent means we pulled about 900 pounds of stuff out of the landfill stream in one month from one small building. Has anyone else measured their building like this, and what number got you to keep going?

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Update: my building hit 42 percent recycling last month and I think the trick was stupid simple | Climate Action - The Community Guide