Austin’s Zero Waste Advisory Commission (ZWAC) met on May 14 where appointees heard a five-year financial forecast for Austin Resource Recovery and a report on the utility’s current projects. May is typically when city staff present their departmental financial forecasts to boards and commissions to gear up for budget season, and these discussions can sometimes […]
City of Austin Zero Waste Advisory Commission
An Austin City Council advisory commission. Its members are charged to “[r]eview and analyze the policies and resources relating to solid waste management in the city and advise council on solid waste management policies and resources.” Formerly the Solid Waste Advisory Commission.
Posted inResources
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 […]
Posted inCity Hall
Resource Management Commission recommends against proposed merge
Members of the Resource Management Commission voted unanimously to recommend against a resurrected proposal to merge the RMC with the Zero Waste Advisory Commission, or ZWAC, at a special called meeting on Feb. 3. In their resolution making the “no” recommendation, the RMC argued that the overlap between the two commissions is “narrow in scope” […]
Posted inResources
Austin Resource Recovery gets ready for the new year
Austin Resource Recovery plans to collect a total of 260,375 tons of waste from curbside and drop-off center operations during Fiscal Year 2025, with an estimated 40 percent of curbside collected materials to be diverted from landfills, according to a recent report. That’s an increase from the 251,294 tons of waste collected from curbside and […]
Posted inResources
City to seek new bids for compost processing
The question of which contractor or contractors will process compostable items is up in the air for now. Currently, those organic items are collected from customers’ green bins under a contract with Austin Resource Recovery. At last week’s Council meeting, Mayor Kirk Watson announced that Council would not be considering an item awarding a contract […]
Posted inThe Code
Commission junks quick turnaround on department rule change
A proposed update to the city code that would change the way Austin Resource Recovery is run was definitively shot down by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission at its last meeting, but will be considered at this Thursday’s City Council meeting. The ordinance would change how the department modifies its administrative rules in order to make the process […]
Posted inAustin
Drained from emergency debris collections, Austin Resource Recovery prepares for a squeeze this budget cycle
As it continues to pick up the pieces of Winter Storm Mara, Austin Resource Recovery is preparing to weather financial challenges thanks to the $20 million relief effort. Four months out from budget season, Director Ken Snipes and Finance Division Manager Victoria Rieger stopped by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission last week to begin charting […]
Posted inEnvironment
Multifamily composting is next step in Austin’s goal to be a zero-waste leader
Austin could be the first Texas municipality to establish composting access for residents who live in multifamily properties. Austin Resource Recovery, the city’s waste management utility, is turning its efforts to reach multifamily complexes, in which more than half of Austin’s residents live. Expanding composting access could come with some challenges, such as cost, contamination […]
Posted inAustin
ZWAC looks to extend contract for encampment cleanups
Last week, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission voted unanimously to advance a contract extension with Relief Enterprise of Texas Inc., a contractor that has handled homeless encampment trash cleanup for the city around Interstate 35, U.S. Highway 183, Loop 1 and U.S. Highway 290. The contract, which was brought before ZWAC last year, was initially […]
Posted inAustin
Zero Waste Advisory Commission talks through logistics of Prop B
With the passage of Proposition B earlier this month, Austin residents voted to reinstate local laws establishing prohibitions against sitting, resting and camping in public in certain parts of the city. Opponents of the proposition argued that in addition to having a disparate impact on the city’s homeless population, the laws would further stigmatize and worsen […]
Posted inResources
Austin Resource Recovery reworking Zero Waste Master Plan
When City Council unanimously adopted the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan in 2011, it was a bold step toward making Austin “the most livable city in the country.” At more than 300 pages, the plan laid out a number of environmental sustainability goals for the city over the next three decades, but the primary objective was […]
Posted inResources
Zero Waste Advisory Commission reassembles C&D ordinance subcommittee
At its Jan. 13 meeting, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission discussed the Construction and Demolition Recycling Ordinance, a law that went into effect in 2016. The ordinance mandates that building permits with more than 5,000 square feet of new, added or remodeled floor area divert at least half of the construction project debris from the […]