Dive summary:

• Restaurants in Austin, Texas will be required to compost all food scraps by 2017 with a new law being pushed by both lawmakers and the Austin Restaurant Association.
• The plan has been in the works for the past 16 months in order to make a last push towards the city’s 90% diversion goal by 2040.
• The city is also attacking their landfill rate by slowly ratifying the recycling requirements for items such as glass or plastic as time goes on.

From the article:

The composting requirement for food establishments will also be rolled out on a tiered basis. The requirement kicks in for food establishments larger than 5,000 square feet in October of 2016, and for all restaurants and food-service establishments in October 2017.

Andrew Curren, part-owner and executive chef of 24 Diner, where they've been composting food waste since 2010, said restaurants that are more financially stable will likely be more willing to comply.

"The first thing any restaurant person is going to do is look at how much it's going to cost them," Curren said. "There are a lot of restaurants out there who are just moving sideways or barely scraping by, and an extra $300-$400 a period is not going to be easy for them." ...