Austin Celebrates America Recycles Day With Keep Austin Recycling Campaign

AUSTIN, TX – This America Recycles Day, Nov. 15, Austin Resource Recovery(ARR) aims to raise awareness about plastic recycling in Austin and what Austinites can do to combat plastic pollution with their Keep Austin Recycling campaign.

Austin Resource Recovery provides curbside trash, recycling, and yard trimmings or compost service to over 200,000 residential customers. Recycling is collected every-other-week and taken to one of two Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in Austin.

The MRFs use specialized machinery and hand sorting to separate materials and remove contamination (items not accepted by curbside recycling, hazardous or food-soiled items).

Items are then baled and sold to companies that turn them into products like new bottles and containers, clothing, carpeting, flooring, flowerpots, buckets, bicycle racks and auto parts.

While other municipalities around the country may be faced with difficult decisions about the future of their recycling programs, Austin’s processors have assured ARR that they continue to sell recyclables domestically and to Mexico and have not been affected in the same way.

Within the last two years, Austin has joined both the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the U.S Plastics Pact initiatives aimed at rethinking the lifecycle and use of plastic in the United States and the world.

Austin Resource Recovery has made strong commitments to reuse programs and promoting a robust Circular Economy Program that provides opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses to connect with local suppliers looking to sell discards made of plastic and other reusable materials.

ARR is also using the campaign to encourage Austinites to make changes in their own lives to help combat plastic pollution by reducing the purchase and use of single-use plastic items, reusing plastics whenever possible, and using the Austin Recycles App or What Do I Do With… tool to know what items can and cannot go in the blue cart.

For more on plastic recycling in Austin, America Recycles Day, and what you can do at home to make a difference, visit austintexas.gov/plastic.