Austin's composting efforts divert 333K tons of materials since 2017 launch

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Resource Recovery will officially roll out its new multifamily composting collection efforts Tuesday, following an announcement of the mandated services last week.

More than half of Austin's nearly one million residents live in multifamily communities, an ARR spokesperson confirmed to KXAN last week. Multifamily communities included in the mandate are apartments, condos, non-state dorms, assisted living facilities and nursing homes with five or more units, last week's announcement said.

Officials added Austin will now be the first city in the state to require composting access for residents living in multifamily communities.

ARR's requirement for multifamily composting collection services supplements efforts already underway for Austinites living in single-family homes or multifamily properties with four units or fewer. Austin launched its curbside composting collection service back in 2017, which collects food scraps, yard trimmings, food-soiled paper and nature fibers to convert into compost.

Austin provides that curbside composting collection service to roughly 212,000 customers, an ARR spokesperson said last week. Since its inception, that program has diverted almost 333,000 tons of compostable material from landfills.

Under the new multifamily communities requirement, landlords and building owners will be responsible for providing tenants and employees with access to one-gallon capacity of compost collection services per residential unit. Landlords and property owners will continue to be responsible for following multifamily recycling requirements, as well.

Both the multifamily and single-family programs' efforts are part of the city's goal of diverting 90% of materials from landfills by 2040. More details on composting initiatives are available online.