Eighty percent of Austin’s trash is actually recyclable or compostable. That’s the result of a new study from Austin Resource Recovery, examining city-wide trash, recycling, composting, and diversion habits. A similar study done last year only looked at the waste coming from single family households, which make up the bulk of Austin Resource Recovery customers. This new study took things one step further, allowing the city to gain a deeper understanding of how the entire community deals with its waste.

Key findings from the study:

• Community-wide, Austin is keeping about 42 percent of its waste out of the landfill through recycling, composting, and reuse. Unfortunately, this falls short of City Council’s goal of achieving a 50 percent diversion rate by 2015. This goal is one of many on a path to the city’s ultimate goal of 90 percent diversion (or Zero Waste) by 2040.
• Organic or compostable materials make up about 37 percent of the waste sent to the landfill, highlighting the impact that a more robust city-wide compost collection could have on Austin.
• Austin Resource Recovery customers (single family homes) only make up about 15 percent of the recycling and trash generated in Austin. The majority of the waste comes from the private sector, including commercial businesses and apartment complexes.

In essence, what this study tells us is that while we are not currently meeting our goals, there is a lot of opportunity for improvement. “If our community works together to divert all the compostable and recyclable materials currently being sent to the landfills,” said Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gedert, “Austin could achieve our Zero Waste goal today.” More info>>