I had a representative from a recycling nonprofit tell me that residents tend to “wish cycle.” Meaning that the resident throws things in the recycling dumpsters in hopes that they are. Although it might be true in some instances, for the most part, I think our residents just don’t know any better. For example, turnover at a property is typically about 50% per year. That means that 50% of our units have new residents every year. These folks come from different cities and states and countries. People are trained to recycle one way, and then move. As contamination becomes more and more a discussion around recycling, the question for us as an industry is what are we doing to help? Do you present recycling guidelines to new move-ins? Do you have signage that makes sense? If your recycling center is a separate location from your trash disposal area, do you residents know where it is? Before anyone blames the resident for ‘wishcycling’ or suggest that residents don’t care, perhaps we should look in the mirror and ask if we are the ones who are actually just ‘wishcycling.’
