Zero Waste and Penalty Risk in Apartments

Although the issue of garbage in apartments seems like a simple matter, it is much more serious than one might think.

Garbage bags left in front of the door in the morning seem like the most ordinary routine of apartment life. But what was in those bags and where they went is no longer just a matter for the building official or the municipality. Together with the regulations in environmental legislation, failure to decompose garbage now opens the way for serious administrative fines for apartment managers.

One morning, municipal inspectors knock on your door and say, “Where's your site's Zero Waste Certificate?” In order not to be surprised when you ask, you need to know the rules of this new era.

Is a Zero Waste System Mandatory for Apartments?
According to the regulation, especially sites with 50 apartments and more, as well as residential areas, have to establish a zero waste management system and switch to a dual collection system (recoverable waste and other waste). This is not an environmental move to be called “whether we want to or not,” but a legal obligation.

If your site falls within this scope and you have not installed the necessary infrastructure, you may face penalties from opposition to the environmental law, which will shake the apartment budget.

• Dual Color Rule: You should place dual collection piggy banks in the common areas of the site (garden, parking lot, floor yards) blue (for recyclable waste such as paper, plastic, glass, metal) and gray (for household waste).
  
  
• Creation of a Waste Area: You need to design a “Temporary Waste Landfill” where this waste collected on the site will be stored in a hygienic way, without interfering with each other until the municipal vehicle arrives.
  
  
• Coordination with the Municipality: It is the responsibility of the manager to regularly deliver the collected recycling waste to licensed companies or to the collection system of the district municipality and record it.

Biggest Obstacle: Residents' Habits Even if you as the
administrator put colored boxes everywhere, a resident tossing the plastic bottle into the household waste bin can lock up the entire system. That is why it is not enough just to buy boxes when establishing zero waste management; it is necessary to inform residents with leaflets, announcements and even decisions taken at the general meeting, if necessary.

Remember, a penalty that will be imposed on the environmental audit is not imposed on individuals, but on the legal entity of the apartment. So one person may have to pay the bill for the recklessness of a single person with all the apartment fee hikes