Ross Proposes New Recycling Ordinance

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, City Councilor Michael Ross (Back Bay, Fenway) introduced a measure to give 100 percent of Boston residents access to city recycling, by requiring landlords to provide recycling buins for tenants of large apartment buildings.

If passed, the ordinance would require landlords of apartment buildings with more than six units to provide access. Currently, 40,000 units are left without recycling access in the city.

“Boston residents had been calling for recycling improvements for a long time, and this ordinance is just the thing the city needs,” said campaign coordinator of the Boston Neighborhood Recycling Coalition Cassie Wyss.

Boston’s recycling rate is currently 13 percent, which is only half the statewide average. Wyss said BNRC’s number one priority is to provide recycling access to 100 percent of residents.

“The basic idea is whether you call a house or a high rise home, it shouldn’t matter,” she said. “You should get the same service.”

Under the proposal, landlords would be required to purchase bins from the city and make them accessible to residents. Pick-up is a free service provided by Boston’s Public Works Department. According to Wyss, cities such as Portland, Ore., charge for both the recycling bins and the pick-up service.

If the ordinance is passed, the landlords failing to comply with the ordinance will be fined.

A recycling ordinance was drafted in June of 2000, but it never made it to the floor. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, according to Wyss, was working on a plan to increase recycling in the city.

“They worked with landowners, but not enough,” Wyss said.

BNRC, looking to provide 100 percent recycling access, revived the idea of an ordinance last October before city elections. Twelve of the thirteen city councilors pledged to vote for a 100 percent recycling access ordinance. City Councilor James M. Kelly (South End, Chinatown) was the only councilor who did not pledge.

According to BNRC, Mayor Thomas Menino also did not pledge support for the ordinance in his mayoral campaign, whereas mayoral candidate and former City Councilor At Large Peggy Davis Mullen did. Wyss said she and the BNRC remain confident the mayor will sign the ordinance.

Menino was recently quoted in The Boston Globe as “a firm believer in recycling … I’m a greenie, I like that stuff.”

Ross, the ordinance’s author, said in a statement he believes “crucial recycling access will increase significantly for Boston residents, helping reduce waste disposal costs and increasing environmental sustainability.”

He also said in a Boston Globe interview that increasing recycling by just one percent could save the city at least $250,000.

According to Wyss, it is uncertain how the ordinance will affect Boston University on-campus housing, although many of the large dormitories already have recycling carts.

Boston University Environmental Student Organization president and University Professors Program junior Aaron Michel hopes Menino will sign the ordinance, regardless of how it will affect BU.

Michel also said to expect good news about campus recycling.

“After our petition drive the provost office and ESO have been trying to bring improved recycling to BU,” he said. “We should have good news coming out shortly.”

Wyss said off-campus students in large apartment buildings would fall under the jurisdiction of the ordinance.

After implementation of the recycling ordinance, BNRC will tackle the issue of education. Boston has a transient population, which Wyss attributed to annual change in the student population, and students, she said, would have to be reeducated each year.

“We are really excited to work with City Council and to see the ordinance gets passed and implemented,” Wyss said. “The ordinance is nothing but beneficial to the city of Boston.”

BNRC is hoping the ordinance will be passed by Earth Day in April.