COMPOST COLLECTION COULD BE COMING TO A CURB NEAR YOU!

The City of Austin has just announced that an additional 38,000 households will have curbside compost collection beginning the week of October 2, 2017. 

I am so excited about this!

This collection will happen weekly on trash collection day.

This program collects food scraps, yard trimming, and food-soiled paper, then coverts them into nutrient-rich compost. This program is a part of the City’s Zero Waste goal to divert 90% of materials from the landfill by 2040.

With this new program and Simple Recycling, I am more confident that Zero Waste can actually be achieved in my lifetime.

To see if you are included in this program, go to the website below and type in your address under “My Schedule”.

<http://www.austintexas.gov/department/austin-resource-recovery>

Residents who are included in Curbside Composting are invited to an informational open house where they will learn about Curbside Composting and what to put in and what to keep out of the new green cart.  As a bonus, attendees will receive a free kitchen food scraps collector and some compostable bags.

For a list of educational open houses, downloadable resources and instructional videos, visit <http://www.austintexas.gov/austincomposts>

I am very proud of our city for taking this initiative.  There was a pilot program that included 14,000 households.  From that program, the City learned that a 32 gallon collection can was more desirable than the 96 gallon can used in the initial program.  All 38,000 households will receive the 32 gallon can.

Also, to address the “ick factor” in the pilot program, material can now be put into compostable (not biodegradable) bags. These are available in some grocery stores and on Amazon.  More information will be received at the open house about these bags.

A recent study showed that almost half of everything that residential customers send to the landfill is compostable material.  When buried in a landfill, compostable materials do not break down as they would in nature or in a compost pile.  They decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and, in the process, become the number one source of human-caused methane released into the atmosphere.

In the compost collection program, organic materials placed in the green carts are transported to a local facility where they break down into useable compost.

I HAVE ALREADY HAD ONE QUESTION – WILL THE CITY CONTINUE PICKING UP YARD WASTE WEEKLY IN THE BROWN BAGS AND OUR OWN STICK CANS?

The answer is YES.  “Brown” material like leaves and sticks are an important component of compost. The City prefers that leaves and sticks be placed in your new green composting cart.  When the cart is full, put the remaining leaves and sticks into brown bags or your own cans.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST TO THIS BLOG ANY RECYCLING QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE.  I WILL RESEARCH YOUR QUESTIONS AND POST THE ANSWERS.

.
 

RECYCLING CENTER UPDATE & RECYCLING ON THE ROAD

VERY IMPORTANT!

UPDATE ON AUSTIN’S RECYLING CENTER!

On a recent trip to the Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center, I discovered that you have to deposit your hazardous materials at one drive-through drop-off point, leave the facility, re-enter, and take your electronics to another drive-through area.

This is a problem if you are there on a Saturday when there are many cars waiting in line to get in. This discourages the citizens of Austin from using the Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center.

GOOD NEWS!

The Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center has just made a change in their procedure for Saturday. On Saturdays, you can now drop off hazardous materials AND small electronics in the hazardous waste drop-off location so that you don’t have to leave and re-enter the center. You still have to leave and re-enter the center to drop off large electronics like TV’s.

Kudos to the staff at the Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center for listening to my concerns and coming up with a solution. Here is the link to their website https://www.austintexas.gov/dropoff.

RECYCLING ON THE ROAD

On a recent road trip, it became very apparent to me that recycling collection bins are often non-existent. Many gas stations (where we clean the trash out of our car when we stop for gas) don’t have recycling collection bins.  In addition, there is no recycling collection at any of the State rest or picnic areas in Texas.

What to do??

As we were having lunch at a rest stop near Abilene, I looked at our aluminum drink cans, looked at the trashcan, and had to make a decision - throw them away or hang on to them for the week we would be traveling. I knew these cans wouldn’t be going into my landfill, but I just couldn’t throw them into another community’s garbage dump.

So, a decision was made. We set up a recycling collection bag in the car and a box in the cabin we rented.  At the end of our trip, we brought a week's worth of recyclables back to Austin and put them into our single stream recycling bin.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST TO THIS BLOG ANY RECYCLING QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE.  I WILL RESEARCH YOUR QUESTIONS AND POST THE ANSWERS.

THE BEST RECYCLING IS REGIVING!

I just heard about a neighbor who needed a wheelchair for a friend with ALS.  I suggested she call AGE of Central Texas. Within a few hours, she had a free wheelchair for her friend.  As I was telling her about this fabulous organization, I remembered that I had a cane I wanted to donate, so I took it to AGE of Central Texas.  It made me realize that more people need to know about the health equipment lending services provided by this organization and how people can donate to this very worthy cause. AGE of Central Texas truly makes your RECYCLING a way of REGIVING.

AGE of Central Texas < http://www.ageofcentraltx.org/> is located in central Austin at 3710 Cedar St.  Their Health Equipment Lending program lends all kinds of equipment to seniors and persons with disabilities, free of charge. To donate, please call 512-600-9288.  You can learn more on their website about what they need and even how to borrow equipment.

OTHER WAYS TO REGIVE

REGIVE YOUR VINYL RECORDS.  What to do with 100 45 RPM records of folk dance music and over 100 vinyl LP’s?  I took my 45 records to the Creative Use and Recycling Center.  They are a non-profit organization that will sell these for crafting projects.  Please visit their website for more information <http://austincreativereuse.org/ >.  I donated my LP records to Recycled Reads http://library.austintexas.gov/recycled-reads.  This wonderful store will sell my records to earn money to support the Austin Public Library.

REGIVE OLD CELL PHONES – There is a program that gives soldiers and vets cell phones.  It is called Helping Heroes Home. More info can be found at  https://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/about-us/helping-heroes-home/

The Pak Mail store on Windsor Road will mail donated cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers.  All Pak Mail stores will accept these phones and take them to the Windsor Road store.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST TO THIS BLOG ANY RECYCLING QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE.  I WILL RESEARCH YOUR QUESTIONS AND POST THE ANSWERS.