Under Austin Resource Recovery’s master plan, the city hopes to have 95 percent of all its waste diverted away from landfills and back into everyday use by 2040. Austin Resource Recovery was formerly named the Solid Waste Services Department.
“It’s a different way of looking at our waste streams—it’s material that should have a second life and not be thrown away, because there is added value in it,” said Bob Gedert, director of Austin Resource Recovery. “No matter how you dispose of waste, there is an environmental damage that is done. Encouraging reuse, waste reduction, recycling and composting reduces the amount we have to landfill.”
Meeting zero-waste goals
Austin Resource Recovery’s master plan has set waste diversion benchmarks every five years, beginning with 35 percent diversion in 2010, 50 percent diversion in 2015 and ultimately 95 percent diversion in 2040. The plan’s goals were presented to the Austin City Council on Nov. 10. As of press time, Council was scheduled to adopt the plan Dec. 15.
To achieve the benchmarked zero-waste goals, several new initiatives will be introduced, including more recycling and reuse centers and new composting carts for residents that will become available in 2015. Composting carts will be used for organic materials including food scraps and other materials that may rot or produce methane gas.
Both efforts will require an increase in fees to cover the cost of maintaining and building new centers and introducing a new fleet of compost collectors. However, the fee will rest heavy on those who produce waste. Those who waste less and recycle more will actually save money, Gedert said.
About 60 percent of Austin Resource Recovery customers use a 64-gallon trash cart and
30 percent use a 96-gallon cart. The remaining 10 percent use either 32-gallon cart or the 21-gallon trash cart, which was introduced in October, Gedert said.
Each cart will cost a different fee, which Gedert said will encourage waste reduction. By 2016, the department hopes to conduct recycling pickups on a weekly basis and reduce trash pickup to a biweekly basis. Pickups are currently weekly for trash and biweekly for recycling.
Forming a zero-waste plan
Austin hired waste consultant Gary Liss in 2007 to form its 2008 zero-waste strategic plan. The city rehired him to help develop the Austin Resource Recovery’s master plan, which serves as an implementation strategy to accomplish Austin’s zero-waste goal.
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