About half of the people who live in Austin can't take part in the city's new "single stream recycling" program because they live in apartments or condos.

Recycling can be easy -- especially with the new blue carts being distributed to homes in Austin.

But tens of thousands of residents don't take part in the Pay-As-You-Throw program.

"My apartment doesn't even have a recycling program. We have a dumpster in the back, but that's it," said Kaitlyn Wright, who wants to recycle.

"The residents -- if they do want to recycle -- have to do it pretty much themselves. It's pretty much, in the end, a pretty difficult process if you do want to do it," said Danny Korin, who wants to recycle.

But the city says it shouldn't be that way -- at least in large complexes. A city ordinance requires all complexes with at least 100 units to provide recycling of at least four of these:

-- Aluminum, tin and steel cans

-- Glass bottles

-- Plastic bottles labeled one and two

-- Newspaper

-- Corrugated cardboard

-- Kraft paper bags

-- Home office paper or junk mail

"We do have about 422 apartments around town that are in our data base and we do keep track of them and it's kind of complaint-driven," said Jennifer Herber, Solid Waste Services

The city has never fined a complex for not offering recycling, but instead works with managers to get them to offer a recycling program.

"Since April of 1999, when the city ordinance came into play to provide apartment recycling, we've collected over 52,000 tons of recycling material, so all of that's been diverted from the landfill," said Herber.

Residents who live in smaller complexes may drop off recyclables at places such as Ecology Action in downtown Austin, but some apartment residents say that may be asking too much.

You can report an apartment complex that isn't in compliance to 311.