The city published an audit in September examining Austin Resource Recovery’s progress toward lowering the amount of waste sent to landfills and found that the city is not on track to reach its “Zero Waste Goal.” 

Austin Resource Recovery, a city department focusing on waste management and sustainability, established its zero-waste goal in 2009. According to the audit, the department set a goal of a 90% diversion rate by 2040, meaning the department wanted to divert at least 90% of discards “away from landfills or incinerators.” The audit found that the diversion rate was 37%, a decrease from a decade earlier. 

David J. Eaton, a natural resource policy studies professor, said the city’s aspirations to reach its zero-waste goals do not depend only on the department’s efforts.   

“The aspect that is most difficult is that the city can’t do it itself,” Eaton said. “It must rely on its citizens to organize their waste in a manner so that they can reduce the amount of waste going to disposal.”

The city manages about 15% of Austin’s waste, with the remaining 85% handled by private waste management companies. To encourage composting and recycling within the private sector, Austin Resource Recovery conducts educational outreach.

According to the audit, however, Austin Resource Recovery’s goals lack specific metrics for their impact. The diversion rate might underestimate the city’s progress because the calculations are based on the weight of diverted waste, not on sustainability efforts by a person or business, Gena McKinley, the department’s strategic initiatives division manager, said. McKinley also said Austin Resource Recovery is looking into more personalized data metrics to track progress toward zero waste.

McKinley said there’s not a “one size fits all” measurement for education, but that Austin Resource Recovery is working on collecting new data for their efforts. 

“A plastic bottle today might weigh about half of what it weighed five to 10 years ago,” McKinley said. “So you could have more plastic bottles in a recycling bin, but it weighs the same as it did five years ago. As a result, you’re recycling more, but if you’re looking at weight as a diversion rate metric, it doesn’t show that progress.” 

Gerard Acuna, chair of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission, which advises the city’s waste management practices, said he wants the city to more aggressively engage the private sector in conversations about solutions. 

“I want to see staff become a little bit more proactive in pursuing those folks who have neglected the ordinances,” Acuna said. “I’d like to see staff get out there and again, encourage them to become part of the solution and correct this challenge that we’re facing today.