Residents using curbside composting collection services may pay a whopping 85 cents more for their base rate charge to help expand this Austin Resource Recovery program. The department informed the Zero Waste Advisory Commission about the increase on Wednesday as part of a discussion of its Fiscal Year 2017-18 proposed budget. All program users pay a base rate of $14.05, and then $.16 per gallon for carts of 64 gallons or less, where food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings are kept before the city picks them up for composting. The program is part of Austin Resource Recovery’s grand goal to divert 90 percent of waste away from landfills by 2040. The rate increase is to cover expanding the program to about 54,000 customers come Oct. 2, and to add all curbside customers to the program by 2020.
More coins for composting
