Residential Curbside Composting Guide
Follow this guide to compost like a pro with your residential curbside composting collection service from Austin Resource Recovery.
Residents of multifamily properties have access to commercial composting collection through their property management.
Use your green composting cart
- Place food scraps, food-soiled paper, yard trimmings and natural fibers into your green composting cart. If it grows, it goes!
- Set out your green cart every week by 5:30 a.m. on your collection day, even if it isn’t full.
- Make sure everything fits in the green cart with the lid closed, and keep the lid closed at all times.
Learn what goes into your green composting cart; if it grows, it goes
Residential Curbside Composting 2023
Cooked or raw meat, poultry and seafood (including bones), cheese, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, grains, pasta, eggshells, bread, coffee grounds, tea bags, tea leaves, baked goods, nuts, jelly, candy, snack foods, leftovers, spoiled food.
Collection tips
- Use a kitchen collector to collect materials right in your kitchen.
- Place in a BPI-certified compostable bag, a paper bag, or another paper collector.
Compost more curbside
Because the City's material is processed at a commercial facility, the compost pile heats to very high temperatures, which can break down items like meat, dairy, seafood, seafood shells and bones, which typically cannot break down in a backyard compost pile. Even if you already compost at home, add these items to your cart and they can be composted.
Keep these items out
Do not include liquids, fats, oils, grease, plastic, glass, metals, Styrofoam.
Grass clippings, small branches, small tree limbs, tree roots, flowers, leaves, plants, straw.
Collection tips
- Fill your cart first.Place yard trimmings directly in your cart (loose or in paper bags). Ensure the lid closes.
- If you are unable to fit all of your yard trimmings in your cart, bag extra yard trimmings in lawn-and-leaf paper bags and place at the curb next to your cart.
- Bundle and place small branches and tree limbs (no longer than five feet, and no wider than three inches in diameter) at the curb.
Keep these items out
Do not include rocks, soil, tree stumps.
Paper bags, paper napkins, paper towels, paper plates, paper cups, paper take-out containers and take-out boxes (with no plastic or wax coating, and with metal removed), pizza boxes, coffee filters, microwavable popcorn bags, newspaper, tissues.
Collection tips
- Paper can be dry or wet.
- Place directly in your green cart, or place in a paper bag.
Keep these items out
Do not include glossy paper or window envelopes; recycle these items in your blue cart instead. Always place clean paper products in your recycling cart so they can be recycled into new paper products.
Popsicle sticks, sawdust (in paper bags), shredded paper, toothpicks, wooden chopsticks and untreated wood.
Collection tips
Place directly in your green cart, or place in a paper bag.
Keep these items out
Do not include cotton balls, cotton swabs or treated wood.
Keep these out of your green cart
Unaccepted items do not break down naturally and cause significant problems for the composting process. Some items also cause a safety hazard for collection and material processing crews. It's important to keep these items out of your green cart so they do not contaminate the compost or cause injury.
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Tips to make composting easier
Try using a kitchen collector
A coffee can, food storage container or any other reusable container can be used as a mini compost collector in your kitchen. Collect food scraps in this container to easily set aside material for your green composting cart.
- Keep your kitchen collector in a convenient location, such as on the countertop, under the sink or in the freezer.
- While cooking or cleaning up, place leftover food scraps and food-soiled paper into your kitchen collector.
- Empty the contents of your kitchen collector into your green cart before you set out the cart each week.
Keep everything clean; avoid the "ick"
Follow these tips to help reduce odors, moisture and pests in your green cart and kitchen collector.
- Sprinkle baking soda inside the green cart and the kitchen collector.
- Collect food scraps in a BPI-certified compostable bag, paper bag, or small cardboard box, or wrap them in a paper towel or newspaper to absorb moisture and manage odors.
- Consider placing yard trimmings, newspaper or a pizza box at the bottom of your cart to absorb moisture, and layer your food scraps on top.
- Consider freezing food scraps like meat, poultry, and fish in your kitchen collector or another reusable container, or in a paper or BPI-certified compostable bag, until it’s time to place them in your green cart.
- Wash your kitchen collector in the dishwasher or by hand after emptying it into your green cart. Rinse your cart with mild soap and water when necessary. Be sure to pour the dirty water onto the lawn and not down a storm drain.
- Keep the lid to your kitchen collector and green cart closed at all times.
- Store your green cart in a shaded area.
- Set out your green cart for collection every week, even if it's not full.
BPI-Certified bags
BPI-Certified compostable bags have been tested and approved by Biodegradable Products Institute scientists to ensure they will break down completely, quickly and safely during the composting process. Look for the BPI logo on the box (or ASTM-D6400 posted in product details) when purchasing compostable bags and other compostable items. If the compostable bags or item you want to purchase does not list this certification, it may not actually be compostable. There is marketing out there for “biodegradable” products, but unless they meet these standards, they may not be accepted at the facility.
BPI-Certified bags can be purchased at many grocery stores and retailers throughout Austin, as well as online.
Residential Curbside Composting - Avoid the "Ick"
How composting works
The materials in your green cart do not go to a landfill. They are composted into a natural resource!
- Austin Resource Recovery staff collect the material from your green composting cart and transport it to a local commercial composting facility.
- The material is placed in a large pile, where microorganisms begin to break it down, raising the pile's temperature to very high levels
- The material breaks down into an earthy, soil-like substance called compost.
- Compost is used to fertilize plants, gardens and other outdoor areas.