Austin Resource Recovery says on‑demand brush/bulk/HHW program increases diversion, plans reuse warehouse

Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) told the commission that its citywide on‑demand brush, bulk and household hazardous‑waste (HHW) service, launched in January 2025, has substantially increased convenient access and recyclable diversion while changing operational costs.

Ron Romero (Assistant Director) and staff outlined the program model: residents schedule up to three curbside collections per year via appointment; crews operate outside standard route designs so staff can sort recyclables and divert metals, electronics and rigid plastics for recycling. Samuel Gilbert reported appointment volumes and tonnages: roughly 14,146 monthly brush appointments and about 52,000 bulk appointments in the calendar year; staff said diverted recyclables nearly doubled while total landfill tons from brush and bulk declined.

ARR acknowledged some increased vehicle counts and fuel costs to support point‑to‑point diversion pickup but said the on‑demand model reduced overtime and produced net operational benefits. Customer satisfaction from an initial survey showed that 95 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the service and its timeliness.

Andy Dawson explained HHW on‑demand results: participation rose from about 34,000 to ~36,000 annual customers, and on‑demand collections tend to contain larger and newer reusable items that ARR can place into its reuse store rather than pay for disposal. The city received a $4,000,000 EPA grant to acquire property for a reuse warehouse intended to house reusable furniture and redirect items to nonprofits or to households moving out of homelessness; opening was planned later this year pending minor improvements.

Commissioners asked about household counts (staff estimated about 216,000 households in the service area), cost per household (ARR said curbside HHW is slightly more expensive per household than a centralized drop‑off but yields higher reuse rates), and equity/geographic uptake (utilization varied by council district; outreach is planned for lower‑use areas). Staff said textiles have been added to on‑demand collections and that typical pickup limits are about 300 pounds per appointment.

What’s next: ARR will continue targeted outreach to raise utilization in under‑served districts, scale diversion vehicles as needed, and begin operations for the reuse warehouse once permitting and improvements are complete.

Source: ARR presentation and Q&A at the July 1, 2026 Environmental Commission meeting (Ron Romero; Samuel Gilbert; Andy Dawson).