Shared containers make multifamily the hardest segment to keep clean. Plastic bag liners, paper products, and compostable serviceware drive nearly all of it, and three of those come from residents actively trying to do the right thing. What actually moves the number.

Setting up composting is easy. Keeping it working past month two is the real challenge. Contamination, container placement, undersized capacity, staff turnover, compostable packaging confusion, odor, and no feedback loop. Six of the seven are design problems, not behavior problems.

Winter doesn't pause your URCO obligation, but it does change how your organics program runs. Material freezes to container walls. Yard trimmings vanish while holiday food volume spikes. Staff stage material indoors longer, and contamination climbs with holiday packaging and serviceware. The instinct to cut a pickup in January is usually the wrong call — frequency limits freeze bonding, odor, and how long contamination sits unnoticed. Here's how to keep the program clean thro