As of Feb. 1, 2016, Calgary multi-family building residents will have access to more robust on-site recycling services under the region’s new council-approved Waste & Recycling Bylaw.

Apartments, condominiums, townhouses and other multi-family complexes will be required to accept paper and cardboard, food cans, glass jars, plastic containers and bags. The City of Calgary will not collect multi-family recycling, but builder owners and managers will be tasked with determining which private company best serves the needs of their building.

“We know there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for recycling in multi-family buildings,” says Parnell Legg, Multi-family Recycling Project Manager with Waste & Recycling Services. “The key to success is giving building owners and managers flexibility and choice to set up a program that works for them.”

According to Legg, the new bylaw requirement received high support from community members. In fact, during development of the new recycling strategy, 93 per cent of multi-family residents were in favour of a revised policy.

While the City will not be directly involved in recycling pick-up, services and resources offering educational support for building owners and managers will be made readily available. Further details can be found at calgary.ca/multifamilyrecycling.