AUSTIN, Texas — Austin residents living in apartments and condos will soon have a new collection container to use.
Beginning Oct. 1, Austin will require multifamily communities such as apartment buildings with five or more units to provide residents and employees with convenient access to composting collection services.
The composting containers are part of Austin's Zero Waste initiative that aims to reduce the amount of trash while recycling and composting the rest.
The properties will be required to provide one gallon of composting capacity per residential unit with weekly collection and no overflowing containers. The containers must accept composting materials including food scraps, food-soiled paper and BPI-certified compostable products.
While the composting requirements already match existing recycling requirements, properties will still be required to teach residents and employees about the composting plan. A composting plan must be submitted to the city every year and all signs and labels must be in at least two languages on all containers.
A study by the city found that about 85% of landfill waste was generated by the commercial and multifamily sectors in Austin. About 37% of the material sent to the landfill was compostable.
What can be composted?
Food scraps like fruits, vegetables, dairy, bread, meat, seafood and bones can be composted. Food-soiled paper like pizza boxes, paper bags, paper plates, paper cups, napkins, paper towels and coffee filters can also be composted.
Natural fibers like popsicle sticks, toothpicks and wooden chopsticks, along with plant materials are also compostable.
You can learn more about the composting mandate by visiting the city's website.