Austin recently became the first city in Texas to roll out composting requirements for multifamily communities with more than five units, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman. The new rule requires property managers to provide "convenient access to commercial composting collection services" to residents and employees in hopes of emptying landfills across the city.
Austin's new requirement extends to apartments, condos, non-state dorms, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. According to a city press release, more than half of Austin's 984,000 residents live in a qualifying multifamily community.
Under the new requirement, each residential unit will have access to a one-gallon composting container to be collected weekly. Acceptable compostable materials include food scraps, food-soiled paper, natural fibers, plant material, lawn trimmings, BPI-certified compostable products, and more.
🗣️ What single change would make the biggest dent in your personal food waste?
🔘 Not buying food I don't need 🧐
🔘 Freezing my food before it goes bad 🧊
🔘 Using my leftovers more effectively 🍲
🔘 Composting my food scraps 🌱
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Properties must also educate residents and employees about composting and submit a composting plan to the city for approval each year. Signs and labels on composting containers need to be in at least two languages.
Composting is a key way to reduce food waste, recycling organic material into nutrient-rich soil through natural decomposition. Composting is an easy, effective way to help combat the overheating of our planet, diverting organic material from landfills and recycling it into a planet-friendly product.
When food scraps and other organic materials are not composted, they are either incinerated or sent to landfills as waste. Both methods produce harmful gases that pollute our air, with landfills releasing one of the worst — methane.
Austin's latest climate-friendly requirement is part of the city's Zero Waste by 2040 initiative, which aims to reduce 90% of waste in Austin landfills by 2040. A 2015 study found that around 37% of the material in Austin-area landfills was compostable.
"Keeping food scraps and other organic material out of the landfill is important to help Austin reach its zero waste goal," Austin Resource Recovery director Richard McHale said in a statement.
To learn more about composting, visit our composting guide to get started in your own home.
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