Road to Zero Waste

By Rosario Lopez-Cadenas 

The City of Austin now offers a new, convenient solution for residents to safely dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW) through its on-demand HHW collection service. Residents can now get rid of toxic or hazardous materials from their homes without traveling to the Recycle and Reuse Drop-off Center.  

What is household hazardous waste (HHW)? 

You might have heard the term household hazardous waste (HHW) recently, but what exactly i…

By Allison Strupeck 

Composting collection at apartments and other multifamily properties is a newer concept for most folks in Austin—including property managers. 

Hiring a licensed hauler and providing convenient access to composting are just the first steps. By now, most multifamily properties in Austin have completed those steps, since the city rolled out the…

By Michael Taylor

Electronics can’t be recycled in your blue recycling cart. When electronics are placed in a blue cart, they often end up in landfills, creating environmental hazards. Electronics contain valuable materials like metals and plastics that can be reused to create new products, but only if recycled properly.  

Correctly recycling electronics makes an impact. Recycling one million cell phones can recover…

By Allison Strupeck

True or false: Disposables are cheaper than reusables.

False! Restaurants that switched from single-use to reuseable service ware consistently saved money for their businesses—according to Upstream, the non-profit authors of “Reuse Wins”.

By investing in certified compostable containers for take out—or ceramic, porcela…

By Jeff Patterson

You probably don’t think much about tossing out leftovers or food that is past its “sell-by” date. Unfortunately, throwing away unconsumed food contributes to a larger collective problem of food waste.  All told, some 1.24 million pounds of food are wasted every day in the Austin area. 

All that squandered food ends up decomposing in landfills and generating methane, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas.  Climate scientists estimate that nearly 10…

By Michael Taylor

Styrofoam doesn’t go in your blue recycling cart,  and it does not belong in your trash cart or dumpster.  Since it isn’t biodegradable, Styrofoam winds up in landfills and can take hundreds of years to break down.  So where does it go?

You can make an appointment to drop it off at the Recycle and Reuse Drop-off Center. The center is located just south of downtown Austin on Business Center Drive.

At the Recycle and Reuse Drop-off Center, a specialize…

By Michael Taylor

Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) collects the contents of blue, residential recycling carts and hauls them to a local recycling facility, known as a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). From there, the MRF handles sorting the materials for shipment to an end-user. This relationship between ARR and the MRF means that both have a first-hand account of what is being put into the residential recycling carts to be sorted.

While many Austinites do a great job of putting recyclable items like plastic bottles, cardboa…

By Michael Taylor

20 percent of the material that is collected in Austin’s blue recycling carts can’t be recycled curbside. Contamination occurs when we put non-recyclable materials or trash into our blue recycling carts, which can cause major issues later on at the recycling facility. One of the largest contaminants? “Tanglers

Tanglers are materials that physically cause tangling issues in the recycling process. These include items like plastic bags, trash bags, garden hoses, stri…

By Brianna Linn

The fall season brings festive activities such as pumpkin picking, haunted houses, and trick-or-treating. While this spooky season delights many, it also contributes significantly to landfill waste. Here are some creative ways to enjoy this time of year while minimizing waste:

Spooky zero waste décor

To add a touch of fall to home décor, consider finding or DIYing decorations. Many natural materials are readily available and can spruce up any space without costing money!

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By Allison Strupeck 

If you chose Austin for your apartment or condo, you probably already feel pretty lucky to live in such a unique town with a great vibe. And now the city of Austin is one of the only U.S. cities to ensure multifamily residents can easily compost at home!  

As of October 1, 2024, the City of Austin requires multifamily properties—including apartments, condos, non-state dorms, assisted l…