Dive Brief:
- Austin Resource Recovery in Texas reported that 44% of what city residents send to landfills is recyclable, according to a survey of 200,000 of its blue bins from single-family homes.
- At this rate, the city won't meet its goal of being zero waste by 2040. "We're at a static level — a plateau — and we're looking for ideas and insights on how to move past that," said Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gedert.
- Apartment complexes must comply with the city's recycling ordinance by October 2016. Local companies like Green Door Valet cater to apartment buildings.
Dive Insight:
While including apartment buildings in the city's recycling goal will help push Austin toward reaching zero waste, the city will not see a significant improvement until its residents are educated about recycling.
"It's really about an education platform that we're trying to design to make it simple to go green, to really allow residents at apartments to recycle at the ease of their doorstep," said Heath Hallada of Green Door Valet.
A March article published by Resource Recycling reported that the state of Texas has a recycling rate of 18.9%, which is far behind states like California, which have reached a 50% recycling rate. Without new initiatives to recycle, Texas will struggle to keep up.
