William “Willie” Rhodes & Melissa Martinez

William “Willie” Rhodes & Melissa Martinez

Written by Staff Thursday, 24 April 2008

The idea of zero waste almost sounds impossible in a world where waste is so integrated into our life, but through a multi-faceted approach the Austin solid waste services is working on making it a reality. In October, residents will receive larger recycling bins that will accept a wider range of items as part of the Single Stream system. The city is also proposing a innovative center known as the Green District that would integrate education and research in waste management. Solid Waste Services employees Willie Rhodes and Melissa Martinez have seen their roles evolve over the past few years as attitudes toward recycling have changed.

Q. How was the zero waste initiative started?

Willie: We drafted a plan and got a consulting firm aboard this January, Gary Liss and Associates, and right now they are in the process of formulating a zero waste plan for the city. It’s a 40-year plan to get us to zero waste. Our current standard for zero waste uses the West Coast definition, which is 10 percent of where you are today of material going to the landfill. We want to reduce what’s going to the landfill by 90 percent. In California they’re ahead of the game partly because of a state mandate that went into effect in 1990 to require cities to cut the diversion rate to 50 percent by 2000.

Melissa: Many communities and garbage programs have stabilized and are mature because recycling has come a long way, so what we’re asking now is ‘what’s the next step?’ Where does a community go from there? That’s one of the questions that was raised by the solid waste advisory commission.

Q. So is it realistic to aim to reduce waste in 40 years?

Willie: The zero waste plan has to be a 40-year plan. If it was as simple as doing it tomorrow, we would have done it already. It’s going to take some time because when you have a residential program you have to go out and touch a lot of programs and get a lot of stakeholders involved such as Travis County.

Melissa: If you look at the zero waste initiative there are three facets to it. There is the City Of Austin structure itself and all departments and how can we internally make changes to reach zero waste. Then there is residential community, and then private business. So really there are many facets and it’s a 40-year spread. So it’s really going to provide that vision and path for future generations.

Q. What are you doing to educate the public?

Melissa: When the consultant came in January, our strategy was to start educating the public, because just the name ‘zero waste’ was a foreign concept just like recycling was years ago. It catches your attention and there’s a synergy that’s taking place. We posted public meetings and we’ve also held focus group meetings specific to certain industries like composting or construction demolition. So it’s a two-pronged approach: while the consultant works, we do as much as we can to get the word out.

What’s unique with our department is that the zero waste initiative has really put our name and face in front of the public. We’re not just about garbage and recycling, we’re more than that and there’s an expectation that we’ll become a bigger partner in the community with private businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Q. What is the Green District and how did it come about?

Willie: As we’re moving forward with Single Stream recycling, we made a decision that we needed to build a new Material Recovery Facility. We have a piece of property, and we are going to build the MRF there, then we still have room left over. The landfill is closing, and when it’s closed, we’re going to have land there. So the thing was, what can we do with it? We’re in the waste business, so the thing we need to do is to start trying to educate more of the citizens about that. Our staff came together with this Green District concept and came to me and asked me to buy into it and I support it. Now we’re moving forward to try and see if we can build upon it.

Melissa: Although we only pick up from the residential community, people are always coming to us saying how can you help foster market development; how can you do more in the community and take a stronger role? Our core business is residential (garbage and recycling ), but if we had this Green District we would be representing green processing and lending insight to some of these businesses that want to get started so we can carve a path for people to get started. We are always telling people how to set out and so we’re thinking maybe it’s time for us to set an example. It’s got the unique setup with the concept of having community thinkpads and the learning aspect with higher education partnership, where University of Texas engineers could come and office on the property and have an exchange of ideas and keep it cutting edge.

Q. What is single stream recycling?

Willie: Single stream recycling is better because it’s easier on the customers; right now we ask you to do a two-sort mix. Put co-mingle in one bin and put paper in the other and set them out. Now we’ll give one 90-gallon cart to put everything in and you put it out on the curb. You set it out every other week, and we’ll give you a calendar so you know when. For the customer it will be easier and everything we heard in the 5,000 home pilot area is that they love it; in fact they love it so much they didn’t want to give back the carts.

Melissa: Two key phrases for single stream recycling are: it’s easier and more convenient, and you’ll be able to recycle more materials such as boxboard and an extended line of plastics (numbers one through seven). The other aspect is that it’s safer for our crews. It brings automation to the recycling system. Sixty percent of the city would have automated pickup and the other 40 percent is semi-automated. This also partners with the city’s climate protection plan to get more of our trucks off of the road.

Facts:

• The material generated from Austin’s recycling center is sold to manufacturers and the revenue from this more than pays for the MRF.
• Single Stream recycling is set to debut in October.
• Solid Waste Services only handles residential waste, but they take collection from area waste companies such as BFI.
• The pilot for single stream recycling included neighborhoods between Anderson Lane and Rundberg, and US 183 and Duval Road.

William "Willie" Rhodes, Solid Waste Service Director, willie.rhodes@ci.austin.tx.us

Melissa Martinez, Solid Waste Service Spokesperson, melissa.martinez@ci.austin.tx.us

Unlike anything else in the nation, according to Rhodes, the proposed Austin Green District would be located at the site of the Travis County Landfill in South Austin. In addition to “think pads” where entrepreneurs, students and researchers could work on ways to recycle or reuse waste products, the facility would also include a demonstration site for composting, a community center with theater seating for public presentations and a bulk retail outlet for the public to get free mulch.