West LA Condo Manager Knows What It Takes to Recycle Successfully

Multifamily buildings such as apartments and condominiums present a unique challenge for successful recycling. Athens Services customer Judy Orlanski is more than up to the task.

Judy is a former president and current homeowners association board member at her West Los Angeles condominium complex.

Starting a program from scratch
Before the recycLA recycling initiative was launched in the City of Los Angeles for multifamily buildings and commercial accounts, Judy’s building had a small recycling program.

Fabiola Martinez, now an operations lead at Athens, was a recycling coordinator who worked with Judy to set up the recycling program at the building.

“That got me interested in promoting recycling in our building,” Judy said. “She showed me how to educate our owners on steps they can take, like breaking down boxes and sorting recyclables from trash.”

Making recycling top of mind
Together with Athens, Judy put together an outreach plan that included putting up signs and placing recycling containers throughout the building and in the collection bin room in the parking garage.

“Judy took recycling by the horns and owned it,” Fabiola said. “The amount of signage she either posted or provided to each owner was insane. She took the initiative to go door-to-door with me to educate each owner and then included me in any homeowners’ association meetings if they had questions.”

Judy takes advantage of every opportunity to get the message in front of owners, whether it’s at association meetings, in reminder notices, or even chatting in the hallway.

“I encourage the owners to take personal responsibility, take pride in our beautiful building, and keep things nice and neat for everyone.”

Partnering with Athens drives success
Judy has high praise for the Athens employees who helped her design and implement the program and credits its success to the partnership.

“Athens has been great. The signage and training have been very helpful. We are all very pleased with the service.”

Judy has done such a good job that we have featured her in an Athens Academy video showing how to set up a recycling program in an apartment or condo building. She even helped to create several of the tips and scenarios in the video.

Athens helps communities avoid landfills and divert recyclables from waste. Learn more about Athens’ zero waste programs and how you can participate.