Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan
Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan
On February 25, 2010, the City Council approved execution of a contract for professional services with HDR Engineering, Inc. to develop the Integrated Solid Waste Management Master Plan (ISWMMP). The ISWMMP will be a detail-oriented plan that identifies the specific infrastructure, funding mechanisms, and other step-by-step requirements, including training and public outreach, needed to fully implement and achieve the policy goals outlined in the Zero Waste Plan. The plan is to make Austin a zero waste city by 2040, which will require a 90 percent reduction in landfill waste.
The Solid Waste Services Department (SWSD) is in the process of creating an Integrated Solid Waste Management Master Plan (ISWMMP) with a goal to go zero waste by 2040, which means a 90 per cent reduction in landfill waste. As part of this effort, the department initiated a renaming campaign. RECA participated in a stakeholder meeting in December 2010 to help SWSD in this renaming effort.
On Friday, September 16, 2011, SWSD announced its new name: “Austin Resource Recovery.” With this name change, the department hopes to inspire Austinites to rethink how they view trash and the City’s natural resources. According to Bob Gedert, Director of Austin Resource Recovery, “Our new name – Austin Resource Recovery – more clearly represents our mission to achieve Zero Waste by providing excellent customer services that promote waste reduction, increase resource recovery, and support the City of Austin’s sustainability efforts.”
Austin City Council also approved two separate recycling contracts during its two meetings in April 2011. The first contract was with Balcones Resource, which will process 60 percent of the City’s recyclable materials at a plant it plans to build in Northeast Austin. The remaining 40 percent will be processed by Texas Disposal Systems at its Creedmoor plant. Both 20-year contracts will begin in October 2012.
Austin Resource Recovery released the department's draft Master Plan for public review on Thursday, September 29, 2011. The Master Plan is a long-range plan through 2050 that identifies and evaluates policies, programs, infrastructure and funding mechanisms needed to fully implement and achieve a drastic reduction in the amount of trash we send to area landfills. These goals are consistent with the policy goals approved by the Austin City Council in the Zero Waste Plan and the Climate Protection Plan.
Austin City Council members received a briefing on the Master Plan at their meeting on Thursday, November 10, 2011. ARR Director Bob Gedert explained the department's main objective of the City being a "zero waste" City by 2040, which requires a 90 percent waste diversion rate from landfills. Austin residents and businesses currently divert 38 percent of their waste, which is well above the 20 percent rate ARR targeted as a goal by 2010. Other benchmarks include a 50 percent diversion rate by 2015, 75 percent by 2020, and 90 percent by 2030.
Gedert outlined ARR's the following four main keystone initiatives:
- Materials management - incent the reduction, reuse, repair, repurpose, and redesign of existing materials.
- Expanded recycling opportunities through single-stream processing contracts, expanding the materials that can be recycled, enhancing the University Recycling Ordinance, and providing weekly recycling service starting in 2016.
- Organics collection and composting - provide residential home composting services, single-stream organics collection, food scraps collection, and consumer compost collection.
- Economic development growth - attract recycling remanufacturers, an eco-industrial park, support by-product synergies, and promote reuse / repair cottage industries.
At its meeting on Thursday, December 15, 2011, the Austin City Council approved the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan, a long-term plan for the Austin Resource Recovery Department (ARRD) that projects future activities and services for the next 30 years. The Master Plan looks at the Department in its entirety and empowers the Austin community to achieve a drastic reduction in the amount of trash sent to area landfills.
The Master Plan will be updated annually, and program assessments will occur every five years. Annual updates will allow for consideration of economic conditions and available resources. Highlights of the Master Plan include the following:
- Establishing reuse centers and drop-off facilities throughout the city to recover a variety of recyclable, reusable, and repairable materials, including batteries, motor oil, paint, and anti-freeze;
- Enhancing the Single-Stream Recycling Program by accepting additional material types;
- Conducting a pilot program to collect yard trimmings, food scraps, and compostable paper at the curb; rolling out a new city-wide organics collection program based on pilot program results;
- Developing and operating a new Household Hazardous Waste Facility in north Austin;
- Phasing in universal recycling and composting requirements to all waste generators, both residential and commercial, within the City of Austin;
- Redeveloping land at the closed City landfill for an Eco-Industrial Park, where major remanufacturing facilities are co-located with processors of recycled materials;
- Conducting pilot programs for hard-to-recycle materials like mattresses and carpet;
- Creating policies and ordinances to support Zero Waste; and
- Building and maintaining community partnerships.
During an 18 month period, between April 2010 and November 2011, ARRD developed the plan with significant input from stakeholders throughout the community, including Austin residents and businesses, seven boards and commissions, other City Departments, representatives from communities and public agencies throughout the region, nonprofit and private sector service providers, academic institutions, community organizations, and local environmental groups.
Resources
Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan (approved 12/15/2011)
Summary of the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan
