Like much of the western world, Canada is facing a crisis in waste disposal as landfills reach their capacity. In Ontario, a live countdown gives municipal landfills just eight more years before they are full. We urgently need to reduce our garbage.

The scramble for a solution has governments considering and even approving questionable alternatives like incineration and opening new or dormant landfills in rural areas.

Colleagues and I conducted a study between 2022 and 2024 with a non-profit service provider called the St. James Town Community Corner in Toronto, and found an overlooked opportunity for greater waste diversion among renters in multi-residential buildings.

Our research team included Trisha Einmann, a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Guelph, Alaa Mohamed, a client engagement worker with The Neighbourhood Organization and Aravind Joseph, a former co-ordinator with The Neighbourhood Organization.

St.James Town is a vibrant, densely populated neighbourhood with a high proportion of immigrants, racialized people and those with lower-than-average household incomes. At its core are 19 rental towers of 14 to 30 storeys that house about 18,500 people.

Policymakers must bring multi-residential buildings fully into the effort to divert household waste from landfill, so that communities like St. James Town........

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