Kayeuba White, calling on behalf of Public Citizen Texas Office and as an Austin Resource Recovery customer, told the Zero Waste Advisory Commission she supports the citywide rollout of on-call bulk pickup and on-call household hazardous waste (HHW) service.

"The purpose of this program ... is to increase diversion of items that normally would just go to the landfill during bulk collection," White said, noting Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) piloted the on-call model in two parts of the city and that a 2019 pilot survey showed strong participant preference for on-call pickup over the prior mass-bulk approach.

White urged the commission to request regular updates that show program participation, the types of materials diverted, and whether diverted materials are recycled, sold, donated or reused. She also suggested ARR publish the pilot survey results from 2019 for commissioners and staff to review.

ARR staff did not take formal action during the meeting on White's request; the public comment was entered into the record and commissioners heard the recommendation to track diversion and reuse metrics as the program expands citywide.

The on-call model replaces scheduled mass-bulk collection in areas where it operated because bulky items collected on single pickup days generally could not be efficiently sorted for reuse or recycling. White said the on-call system is more customer-friendly for unexpected disposals such as broken refrigerators or replaced stoves and said reuse options (for example for furniture) are a potential benefit of the new approach.

Commission discussion of on-call bulk and HHW occurred as part of public comment; staff later briefed commissioners on rules and reporting that will affect how ARR measures and reports diversion after the program launches.