Austin Zero Waste Studies
To achieve Austin’s Zero Waste Goal by 2040, the community needs to divert more than 90% of discards from being burned or buried.
In order to measure Austin’s progress towards its zero waste goal, Austin Resource Recovery regularly works with consultants to conduct comprehensive studies of recycling, composting, reduction, donation and other diversion activities at both residences and commercial businesses in the region. The first Community Diversion Study was published in 2015.
In 2022, Austin Resource Recovery completed the 2020 Community Diversion Study.
2020 Community Diversion Study Overview
Study goals
| Comprehensive | Inclusive of recycling, composting, reduction, donation, reuse and other diversion activities. |
| Transparent | Conducted by a third-party environmental engineering firm and the backup data is online for public review. |
| Innovative | Second study of its kind in Austin, includes best practices from around the United States and builds upon a strong foundation for future studies. |
| Transferable | Other communities can replicate and improve upon Austin's approach. |
Key findings
The material stream of each sorting categories in ARR-collected trash:
- Austin Resource Recovery's 2020 diversion rate for all collections was 39.80%.
- "56% of ARR-collected trash could theoretically be diverted through recycling or composting."
- Organic/compostable materials make up about 25% of materials of ARR-collected trash sent to local landfills.
- Businesses, apartments, commercial properties, education institutions and other entities generated more than 75% of the discards in the community; single-family homes (up to four plexes) generated about 11% of discards; while the remaining 14% of discards was from street sweeping and diversion activities such as resale and reuse that fall outside of traditional measures.
Methodology Overview
Data Collection |
Business Surveys |
Lid-lifting observations |
Waste sorts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collected available public data, including hauler tonnage and Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) information. | Surveyed thousands of businesses to learn about current business practices in Austin. | Randomly gathered 200- to 250-pound samples from each load collected and sorted the materials into classes and categories. | Random loads of commercial materials were sorted and categorized by material. |
Next steps
- Austin Resource Recovery will conduct a range of studies including Per Capita Disposal Rate, Capture Rate and Diversion Rate to establish a comprehensive outlook of diversion efforts. These studies will be conducted and reported on a periodic basis so that regular results of the studies are available.
- Continue to support innovative programs for reducing, reusing, recycling and composting material at home and at work.
- Continue to implement the Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) to find cost-effective solutions that result in less waste.