City Of Austin Expands Curbside Composting Collection Program To 53,000 New Austin Households

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Austin Resource Recovery (ARR), a department of the City of Austin, announces the expansion of the Curbside Composting Collection Program to approximately 53,000 additional Austin households to begin the week of Sept. 23, 2019.

Currently, about 95,000 homes receive the curbside composting collection service. This expansion will bring the total to over 148,000, providing service to nearly three-fourths of ARR’s customers. ARR plans to add the remaining customers to the program by 2020, pending funding approval by City Council.

A recent study showed that nearly half of material residential customers send to the landfill is compostable. The curbside composting program collects food scraps, yard trimmings and food-soiled paper, and converts them into nutrient-rich compost. This program is part of the City of Austin’s Zero Waste goal to divert 90 percent of materials from landfills by 2040.

“Since the program began ARR has collected almost 100 million pounds of compostable material in the green carts,” said Austin Resource Recovery Interim Director Richard McHale. “As we expand this program to more customers, we keep more compostable material out of area landfills, and make larger strides toward achieving Austin’s Zero Waste Goal.”
 
Customers included in this year’s Curbside Composting expansion were mailed a notification postcard in early-July informing them of their new service and inviting them to an informational open house. Customers can also search for their address using the My Schedule web tool at austinrecycles.com to see if they are in the service expansion area.
 
Curbside Composting may help residents save money on their utility bills. After putting food scraps and food-soiled paper in their green carts, customers will likely have less trash each week. This may allow them to downsize to a smaller, less expensive trash cart.
 
For more information about Curbside Composting, a list of educational open houses, resources and instructional videos visit austintexas.gov/austincomposts.