Omar Khalid
The City of Austin, Texas, has committed to reducing plastic waste and pollution by signing the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Plastics Pact Network in 2018. The pact aims to create a circular economy for plastic by rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. Austin has outlined several goals to achieve this, including developing internal policies to limit unnecessary plastics, providing education on plastic purchasing policies, and incentivizing businesses to adopt reuse models. By 2025, the city aims to have 100% of its plastic packaging be reusable, recyclable, or compostable and to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year of Commitment | 2018 |
| Objective | Create a circular economy for plastic by rethinking how we make, use and reuse plastic |
| Action Items | Bring your own shopping bags, use bulk bins, skip disposable cups, avoid straws and disposable utensils, reuse plastic, use the What Do I Do With... tool, drop off hard-to-recycle items |
| Plastic Pact Roadmap Targets for 2025 | Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025, 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable, effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging |
| Plastic Pact Roadmap Actions | Developing internal policy to limit, restrict, or prohibit the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics, providing ongoing education of plastic purchasing policy to City of Austin staff, offering consulting services to businesses interested in transitioning to a circular business model, supporting research and development of new innovations in reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging |
| Plastic Water Bottle Recycling | Recycled into other beverage bottles or used for polyester in products such as clothing, carpets, or backpacks |
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What You'll Learn
Recycling plastic waste
The City of Austin, Texas, is taking a proactive approach to tackling plastic waste, a material that poses significant environmental challenges. In 2018, Austin signed a global commitment to create a circular economy for plastic, rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. This commitment involves a range of strategies to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic more effectively.
One key strategy is to encourage sustainable purchasing practices and reduce plastic consumption. This includes initiatives such as bringing your own shopping bags, using bulk bins with your own containers, and skipping disposable cups and utensils. Austin is also expanding composting services at city facilities and properly recycling plastic film and foam from warehouse operations.
Austin Resource Recovery plays a vital role in the city's recycling efforts, collecting recyclables from over 200,000 homes and transporting them to a local Material Recovery Facility (MRF). At the MRF, specialized equipment sorts different materials, which are then baled and sold to businesses to create new products. For example, plastic water bottles are recycled into new beverage bottles or used for polyester in clothing, carpets, or backpacks.
Additionally, Austin is committed to developing internal policies to limit or prohibit the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics, providing education on plastic purchasing policies, and offering consulting services to businesses transitioning to a circular business model. The city is also supporting research and development of reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging innovations.
Austin has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact and its Roadmap to 2025, which sets specific targets to reduce and manage plastic waste. By 2025, the city aims to increase the capture rate of plastics, replace virgin plastic materials with post-consumer recycled content, and ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable. These ambitious goals demonstrate Austin's dedication to creating a greener and more sustainable future.
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Reducing plastic consumption
In 2018, the City of Austin signed a global commitment to create a circular economy for plastic by rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. This commitment has led to the development of the U.S. Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025, which aims to establish goals and make commitments around plastics to create a greener and more sustainable Austin.
The Roadmap outlines four key targets for the City of Austin to achieve by 2025:
- Define a list of problematic or unnecessary packaging and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
- Ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
- Set a target for replacing virgin plastic materials with materials made from at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
- Take ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging by 2025.
To support these goals, the City of Austin has made several commitments, including developing internal policies to limit or restrict the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics, providing education on plastic purchasing policies to staff, offering consulting services to businesses transitioning to a circular business model, and incentivizing businesses to adopt reuse models.
In addition to the Roadmap, Austin has expanded composting services at city facilities and collects plastic film and foam from warehouse operations for proper recycling. Austin Resource Recovery trucks collect recycling from over 200,000 homes and transport it to a local Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for processing and baling. The recycled materials are then sold to businesses that transform them into new products, such as plastic water bottles being recycled into other beverage bottles or used for polyester in clothing, carpets, or backpacks.
To reduce plastic consumption, individuals in Austin can take several actions, including bringing their own reusable shopping bags, using bulk bins with their own containers, skipping disposable cups and straws, opting for reusable alternatives, and reusing plastic items whenever possible.
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Circular economy for plastic
In 2018, the City of Austin signed a global commitment to create a circular economy for plastic, aiming to reduce plastic waste by rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. The city has since launched the U.S. Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025, a national strategy to achieve circular economy goals for plastic. This roadmap outlines realistic targets and tracks efforts to manage plastic waste, with the ultimate goal of creating a greener and more sustainable Austin.
The roadmap has set four targets for 2025:
- Define a list of problematic or unnecessary packaging and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
- Ensure 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
- Increase the recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging to 30%.
- Take ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
To support these goals, the City of Austin has made several commitments:
- Developing internal policies to limit, restrict, or prohibit the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics, and providing education on plastic purchasing policies to staff.
- Offering consulting services to businesses transitioning to a circular business model and incentivizing the adoption of reuse models.
- Supporting research and development of innovations in reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging.
- Determining Austin's plastic capture rate by 2022 and setting targets to increase it by 2025.
- Replacing virgin plastic materials with materials made from at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
The City of Austin is also prioritizing sustainable purchasing to reduce plastic consumption, expanding composting services, and collecting plastic film and foam from warehouse operations for proper recycling. Austin Resource Recovery collects recycling from over 200,000 homes, sorting and selling the materials to businesses for creating new products. Additionally, Austin encourages residents to bring their own shopping bags, use bulk bins, skip disposable cups, avoid straws and disposable utensils, and reuse plastic items to reduce plastic waste.
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Plastic waste elimination
The City of Austin, Texas, is taking several steps to reduce plastic waste and pollution and achieve a circular economy for plastics. In 2018, the city signed a global commitment to create a circular economy for plastics by rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. As part of this initiative, Austin has implemented several measures to reduce plastic consumption and improve recycling practices.
One of the key strategies is to encourage sustainable purchasing and reduce plastic consumption. This includes promoting the use of reusable bags for groceries and produce, using bulk bins with reusable containers, and skipping disposable cups and straws. Austin Resource Recovery provides recycling services to over 200,000 homes, collecting plastic film and foam from warehouse operations for proper recycling. The collected recyclables are sorted, baled, and sold to businesses to be transformed into new products, such as plastic water bottles being recycled into other beverage bottles or polyester for clothing and backpacks.
The city has also launched the U.S. Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025, which outlines specific goals and tracks efforts to reduce and manage plastic waste. By 2025, the roadmap aims to have 100% of plastic packaging be reusable, recyclable, or compostable, with a 30% average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content. To support these goals, Austin is developing internal policies to limit or prohibit the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics and providing education on plastic purchasing policies to its staff. They are also offering consulting services to businesses transitioning to a circular business model and incentivizing the adoption of reuse models.
In addition to municipal efforts, organizations like the Plastic Reduction Project are working to reduce plastic waste. They support student groups advocating for change and help businesses find profitable ways to go green, such as implementing circular reuse pilot programs. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Plastics Pact Network is another global initiative that enables knowledge sharing and coordinated action to address plastic waste and pollution.
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Plastic recycling targets
In 2018, the City of Austin signed a global commitment to create a circular economy for plastic, rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused. As part of this commitment, Austin has pledged to achieve several plastic recycling targets by 2025.
One of Austin's key targets is to ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. This involves working with businesses to establish reuse models and develop innovative reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging. Austin is also encouraging businesses to replace virgin plastic materials with those made from at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
To support these goals, the city has committed to developing internal policies to limit, restrict, or prohibit the purchase of problematic and unnecessary plastics. By 2021, Austin aims to define a list of packaging designated as problematic or unnecessary and take measures to eliminate them by 2025. This includes expanding composting services at city facilities and properly recycling plastic film and foam from warehouse operations.
Additionally, Austin has set a target to increase its capture rate of plastics by 2025. This involves collecting plastic waste from over 200,000 homes and transporting it to a local Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for processing and baling. The sorted materials are then sold to businesses to be transformed into new products, such as plastic water bottles being recycled into other beverage bottles or used for polyester in clothing and carpets.
Through these initiatives, Austin is striving to reduce plastic waste, promote sustainable practices, and create a greener and more sustainable future for its community.
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Frequently asked questions
The City of Austin is committed to creating a circular economy for plastic by rethinking how plastic is made, used, and reused.
The roadmap outlines four targets to be achieved by 2025: defining and eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging, making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable, taking ambitious actions to recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging, and increasing the average recycled content in plastic packaging to 30%.
Austin aims to develop policies to limit or prohibit the use of problematic plastics, educate staff about plastic purchasing policies, offer consulting services to businesses transitioning to a circular model, incentivize reuse models, support research and development of reusable and compostable plastic packaging, and set targets for increasing the capture rate of plastics.
Individuals can bring their own reusable bags for shopping, use bulk bins with their own containers, avoid disposable cups and straws, reuse plastic items, properly dispose of plastic through the "What Do I Do With..." tool, and schedule appointments at the Recycle and Reuse Drop-Off Center for hard-to-recycle items.
