Boston residents of large apartment buildings now have access to free recycling, thanks to a city ordinance effective this year to promote a reduction in Boston’s waste stream.

Boston currently produces five million pounds of trash each year, according to a press release from the Boston Neighborhood Recycling Coalition, and 89 percent of the waste produced is sent to landfills and incinerators.

Landlords of apartment buildings with seven or more units can contact the Public Works Department Recycling Program to have access to a recycling coordinator, according to recycling coordinator John McCarthy.

This coordinator will inform residents which material can be recycled, and show tenants where to leave recyclable material for pick-up. This service is free for all residents of apartment buildings on the city’s trash pick-up circuit.

‘It’s a unique service that the city provides because we customize the program in each building,’ McCarthy said.

If a landlord fails to contact a recycling coordinator on behalf of a building’s residents, the Recycling Department will bring the landlord into compliance, usually by a fine of $150 to $300.

With this ordinance, nearly all of Boston’s residents can access convenient recycling, according to Boston City Councilor Mike Ross.

‘This ordinance represents the remaining segment of the population [without access to free recycling],’ Ross said.

The administrative costs of the ordinance have been partially provided by a grant from the State Environmental Protection Agency. The economic benefits of this recycling program will far outweigh the costs, Ross said.

According to Ross, the city will save about $150,000 for every ton of trash that is recycled rather than simply carted away to landfills and incinerators.

‘Through the savings received by increasing recycling, our country can focus its resources in other vital areas such as schools and public safety,’ Ross said in a press release.

The ordinance will also help protect Boston residents from exposure to harmful toxins, according to Katie Mae Simpson of the Toxic Action Center.

‘Recycling saves Boston residents from being exposed to dioxin, mercury and other toxic chemicals in the air and water that inevitably come with landfills and incinerators,’ she said.