City of Austin Passes Multifamily Compost Ordinance Effective October 1, 2024
The City of Austin requires multifamily property owners or managers with five or more units to ensure that their residents and employees have convenient access to recycling. Multifamily properties include apartments, condominiums, dormitories, assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
The City of Austin will require commercial composting collection at all multifamily properties starting October 1, 2024. The Austin City Council approved the amendment to the Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Who is responsible?
The property owner and manager are responsible for meeting the City’s recycling requirements. Typically, the person who oversees the contract for landfill trash and recycling submits the recycling plan.
What do I need to do?
1. Submit a recycling plan
You must submit a recycling plan every year between October 1 and February 1. This plan is a report of how the property meets all of the recycling requirements below. You will need these items to fill out your recycling plan:
- An invoice or contract receipt from your licensed hauler(s) with:
- The size, number and location of your outdoor landfill trash and recycling dumpsters or carts.
- How often your landfill and recycling dumpsters or carts are picked up
- Your property ID from your previous records or a letter/email from Austin Resource Recovery.
- Information about how and when you educate your residents and employees on your recycling program.
- Placement of indoor and outdoor recycling containers and signs at your business.
2. Offer recycling
Multifamily properties are required to provide sufficient recycling capacity to their residents and employees:
- Provide single-stream recycling, which allows these five materials to be put into one container: paper, cardboard, metal, glass and hard plastics.
- Provide equal capacity for recycling and landfill trash; or provide 24 gallons of recycling capacity, per unit, per week.
- Use the capacity calculator to determine if you meet the requirement.
- Preventing landfill trash by reusing, repurposing or donating items could also help you meet this requirement.
- Organics diversion programs could also help you meet this requirement.
- You must provide enough recycling capacity to avoid overflow at convenient locations for residents and employees.
3. Provide convenient access
- All outdoor recycling dumpsters and carts must be 25 feet or less from all landfill trash dumpsters and carts.
- If needed, contact your licensed hauler to move the dumpsters at your property.
- If you provide indoor landfill trash bins in common areas, you must also provide recycling bins. You are required to group the bins together and label them in at least two languages.
4. Post signs
- All signs must:
- Be labeled with the type of waste stream.
- List which materials are accepted in the container.
- Provide information in at least two languages.
- All outdoor dumpsters, carts and collection points must have signs on them. The signs at the recycling collection points must feature the chasing arrows recycling symbol.
- Contact your licensed hauler if they need to add landfill, or recycling or organics decals to their outdoor containers.
- All indoor bins must have signs on or near them, ideally at eye level. Landfill trash, recycling and organics bins must be grouped together.
- Recycling bins must be provided in common areas where landfill trash bins are provided.
Get free recycling signs
- Print free recycling posters in English and Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin or Vietnamese.
- Make your own signs by choosing which items are frequently disposed of at your property:
- If you provide composting, you can find free posters in English and Spanish:
5. Provide educational resources to your residents and employees
These items must be provided in print or electronically and in two languages; within thirty days of hire or move-in, when there are program changes and every year.
Create educational resources about the landfill trash, recycling and organics services at your property
- Show the multifamily recycling education videos
- Download and edit the letter and email template for multifamily properties. Share with your residents.
- Download the recycling brochure and share it with your employees and residents.
- Create a map of your outdoor landfill trash and recycling containers. Share with your employees and residents.
Document when you provide the educational resources
- Download and edit the sample training log to set a regular training schedule.
- Download and edit the sample attendance log or start archiving your educational emails to document attendance.