Multi-Family Overview
Beginning July 1, 2012, multi-family residential buildings in Alameda County with five or more units are required to have recycling service sufficient to handle the amount of recyclables they produce.
Multi-family property owners or managers must complete the following three steps in order to comply with the new law:
- Arrange for collection service of recyclables sufficient to accommodate the quantity and type of materials generated on-site.
- Provide containers for recyclables at the same location where garbage cans or bins are kept. Recycling containers must be large enough to hold all of the recyclables generated on-site.
- Provide employees with information annually describing where recycling containers are located and how to use them. For commercial property owners who lease space to one or more businesses, such information must be provided to each tenant to share with their employees.
Owners of multi-family residential properties are only responsible for complying with the requirements above, and are not responsible for monitoring and enforcing recycling among tenants. More information on the steps multi-family property owners must take can be found here.
Recommended: Post prominent signs on or near the recycling and garbage containers clearly indicating which are for garbage and which are for recycling. Use posters or decals that contain drawings or pictures of the materials that go into each container. This helps people understand with a quick glance how to sort the materials properly. Many haulers and cities can supply you with posters and/or decals that are specific to the materials they accept.
These requirements apply to all multi-family buildings with five or more units in the following Alameda County jurisdictions:
- Alameda
- Albany
- Berkeley
- Emeryville
- Fremont
- Hayward
- Livermore
- Newark
- Oakland
- Piedmont
- Pleasanton*
- San Leandro
- Union City
- Unincorporated areas of Alameda County (except those within the boundaries of the Oro Loma and Castro Valley Sanitary Districts)
*Effective March 1, 2013; enforcement begins September 1, 2013.
More information about garbage and recycling services in Alameda County jurisdictions can be found here. For further questions and more information please contact us.