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They are recycling only a small fraction of their waste.
So, the City of San Jose launched a new program to turn that around and the results are dramatic. Recycling is a way of life in most of the Bay Area now.
Many people who live in single-family homes have gotten used to curbside pick-up and the programs are growing. But, apartment buildings and other multi-family housing complexes have not been as successful.
Apartments in San Jose produce a lot of garbage and it is full of items that should have been recycled but were not including paper, plastic and glass bottles.
According to an environmental group called Californians Against Waste only about 15 percent of the waste from apartments and other multi-family complexes is recycled.
Jeff Anderson with the Environmental Services Department says the quality of recycling often comes down to the effort of apartment managers.
"It varies. A lot of them really care and they do a good job educating their tenants, making sure there are containers right next to the garbage, making it easy for them to recycle. But, on the other end of the spectrum there are apartment managers that don't do a good job," he said.
Sometimes it is the tenants who are careless. One complex provides a dumpster for recycling but someone stuffed it full of old rugs that should be in the trash.
"With such great turnover sometimes in apartment communities, always new residents moving in, it's a constant need to educate them about the different requirements in that different city," said Joshua Howard with the California Apartment Association.
So, the City of San Jose is trying something new. Apartment residents are still supposed to separate recycling from garbage at home. That is the cheapest and most efficient method.
But, if they slip up there is a back up.
All the garbage collected from San Jose apartments and multi-family complexes now goes to a sorting facility run by a company called Green Waste. It is a multi-million dollar maze of conveyor belts and high tech machines designed to separate the recycling from the material that can be composted and the stuff that goes to the landfill.
"Those items are easy to get out if you have the right equipment," said Michael Gross with Green Waste Recovery.
It is also easier to recover those items with the right people. The sorting facility created 65 new jobs. It opened last summer and San Jose has just released the first statistics on how it is working.
"We found we are able to recover 80 percent of the material. So, only about 20 percent has to go to the landfill now," explained Anderson.
That is a stunning success that goes beyond what city officials hoped for. And, it may pave the way for others.
"We are one of the few operators in the United States that has a program like this. It's commonplace in Canada and also in Europe," said Gross.
The program costs San Jose $1.5 million a year. The money comes from a four percent rate hike for garbage collection at apartments.
Many landlords oppose mandatory recycling but they like the program.
Howard agrees, citing, "Improved service, improved benefit to our environment, the property owners and Apartment Association thought it was a true win-win."
San Jose has heard from other communities about setting up similar programs. But, mandatory recycling may also be coming. There is a bill in the state legislature now that would require all California landlords to provide recycling opportunities for tenants.
Written and produced by Jennifer Olney
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