Recycling Strategy for Apartments and Condos

In 2017, City began a five-year review of the Comprehensive Integrated Waste Management Strategy (CIWMS). Reducing the amount of waste going into our landfills within the multi-family sector was a near-term recommendation from the review. With the five-year review complete, the City is now developing the Winnipeg Recycling Strategy for Apartments and Condos.

Managing waste from apartments and condos, otherwise known as Multi-Family Dwellings (MFD), is a challenge for many municipalities. There are many unique obstacles for MFDs that are not as big of an issue in Single-Family Dwellings (SFD). Some multi-family residents do not have recycling in their buildings, while other residents experience challenges bringing recyclables from their unit to a shared recycling bin. Recycling in MFDs may also require the cooperation of residents, property managers, maintenance staff, and building owners for recycling to be successful.

In 2020, Winnipeg’s waste diversion rate was approximately 31 percent overall, whereas the waste diversion rate within the MFD sector was approximately 14 percent. New housing in Winnipeg is trending towards MFDs. From 2020 to 2025, MFD housing is forecasted to increase by 27 percent as compared to SFDs at 2 percent.

Enhancing Winnipeg's MFD program is an important part of achieving the goals set out in CIWMS.