Austin Resource Recovery to formally amend cart collection rules

Austin Resource Recovery, the city department that handles Austin’s waste, wants to clarify some things about how residents put out recycling, trash and compost carts.

In a presentation to the Zero Waste Advisory Commission during a meeting on April 10, department staff outlined proposed amendments to their administrative rules governing cart collection. City code requires the department to run rule changes by both ZWAC and City Council for recommendation and approval, respectively.

Jason McCombs, a division manager with the department, said the rule changes were part of a larger project to bring the codified rules more in line with what the department is already doing.

“A lot of these amendments are being made to align with our existing operations and existing outreach,” McCombs said. “Our rules have over time kind of fallen out of date, and we’re needing to kind of catch up and get to where we are as a department.”

Several address timing. The new text, redlined in a draft copy of the amendments included in the presentation, clarifies that carts must be out by 5:30 a.m. rather than 6:30 a.m., but can be put out anytime during the previous day and taken off the street anytime the following day.

The latter changes replace language that would limit carts on the street to between 10 p.m. the day before collection and 8 p.m. the day of, which the department noted in a summary of feedback that spurred the change could place an unreasonable burden on shift workers.

They also address the exact way carts can be placed. Carts should always be 5 feet apart, per the new language, and not between 3 and 5. And they “shall not” be placed in bike lanes,  sidewalks, driveways or mail routes, replacing a more equivocal phrasing of “please keep carts out of.”

Finally, the new rules would also address several less common pickup scenarios. The rules would clarify that if a resident has excess compost or recycling, for example, they can use their own reusable container rather than paper lawn bags or plastic bags. For excess recycling, even a cardboard box is OK, as long as it isn’t bigger than the cart.

And if waste doesn’t get picked up and the city has to come back for it, residents will be charged a fee — but only if they requested the return trip. Previously, the presentation notes, customers could theoretically be charged for a return trip they didn’t ask for.

After a brief round of questions, commissioners at the meeting recommended the amendments unanimously. They will now go to Council for a hearing for adoption, which McCombs said the department hopes will happen in May or June, with ZWAC’s blessing.

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