Multifamily Door-to-door Outreach in Oakland
Introduction
The Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA) received a grant from the Altamont Education Advisory Board to conduct door-to-door outreach to the residents of multifamily dwellings (MFDs) in Oakland to inform them about new recycling, compost, and trash services that began July 1, 2015. This was the first time residents in MFDs had universal access to the organics cart for collection of food scraps and yard waste. Residents were also informed about changes to their recycling services, now provided by California Waste Solutions. The outreach was done in collaboration with Oakland Recycles, and a partnership between Waste Management, California Waste Solutions, and the City of Oakland. Laura McKaughan, President of NCRA and Principal of Envirolutions Consulting, served as a Project Lead. |
Activity
Laura assisted the Oakland Recycles campaign in responding to the increased need for technical assistance during the transition in services. She and Co-Project Lead, Jessica Robinson, communicated the new waste reduction services over the phone and in person and equipped multifamily property managers, owners, and residents with signage, compost kitchen pails, recycle caddies, and outreach pamphlets. The project leads worked closely with the City of Oakland and Waste Management to develop strategies for targeted and effective outreach plans, and communicated service referrals to Waste Management and California Waste Solutions as needed. NCRA collaborated with trained outreach Zero Waste Ambassadors from ILWU Local 6, youth organizations, and Oakland Unified School District students. Results The project involved conducting 8 door-to-door weekend outreach events reaching 223 MFD sites. Over 2,000 pails were distributed to assist in the collection of food scraps and hundreds of recycling caddies were also distributed. At the summation of the project, nearly 150 MFD sites were found to be fully in compliance with Alameda County’s Mandatory Recycling Ordinance. In year 2 of the project, Envirolutions Consulting has taken over the project and has expanded the project goal to reach up to 275 MFD sites. 
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