The City of Dallas has a new recycling ordinance effective January 1, 2020 governing recycling at “multifamily” sites. The intention is to reduce waste in landfills and make recycling available to all residents of the City of Dallas, even those residing in apartment complexes and condominiums. DART buses traverse the city with advertisements noting that all residents of Dallas, even those in apartments and condominiums, will soon be able to recycle. Unfortunately, in attempting to address a serious issue, the City of Dallas simply added these obligations to the portion of the Dallas City Code addressing waste disposal in apartment complexes. This has created a potential legal quagmire for multifamily properties like condominiums where the living units are owned separately. The ordinance redefined “owner” to capture not only the record holder of title but also a condominium or homeowner’s association. However, this requirement only applies to multifamily properties/condominiums consisting of 8 or more living units. The new requirements for owners/ condominium associations are generally as follows:
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Provide recycling collection services through a company permitted to provide such services. Provide recycling containers through such a company that comply with all requirements for such containers pursuant to Dallas City Code. Place these recycling containers in locations that are within visibility of waste containers, and the service for collecting them should be the same as for collecting waste. For example, if the Association provides valet waste pickup from units, recycling should be picked up in the same manner. If the Association has trash chutes, recycling containers should be placed near the trash chutes where space is available. Provide information through posters/signs in common areas discussing how to recycle, location of recycling containers, the materials that may be recycled, and the onsite contact info to report overflowing recycling containers. If trash is collected through back-of-house/valet recycling by the association’s employees, the association must also offer biannual training to its employees as to recycling procedures.
These items were required to be completed by January 1, 2020. If you have a condominium association that is subject to these requirements, you should ensure that your association has satisfied the above obligations of Dallas City Code. However, other provisions relate to multi-tenant (not multifamily) properties, and yet are still arguably included in the provisions affecting condominium associations. These include adopting an annual recycling plan which is to be submitted to the director of sanitation along with the community’s annual multi-tenant registration, but “multi-tenant” properties are defined as properties with multiple living units under the same ownership (although this need not be provided if the community contracts through the City of Dallas for recycling services). The ordinance further provides that the “owner” (association) must provide information regarding the community’s recycling programs to “tenants” upon lease commencement and biannually thereafter, and to update all tenants within 30 days of any significant changes to the recycling program. What, then, do condominium associations do with respect to the requirements under this ordinance that appear more appropriately suited 26 • CONTACT, SPRING 2020
