Chapter 12-3 Solid Waste Guidelines

7.0 COMMERCIAL/MULTI-FAMILY RECYCLING GUIDELINES

7.1.0 SCOPE OF RULES
7.2.0 ADOPTION AND REVISION OF RECYCLING GUIDELINES
7.3.0 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
7.4.0 DEFINITIONS
7.5.0 COMMERCIAL STANDARDS
7.6.0 MULTI-FAMILY STANDARDS

The City of Austin requires that all businesses with 100 employees or more and multi-family properties with 100 units or more must provide on-site recycling services. Under this requirement, businesses and multi-family properties continue to choose their own waste haulers and recyclers and to negotiate prices for these services.

The Recycling guidelines contained within this document are intended to articulate the standards and expectations for commercial and multi-family recyclables collection as authorized in the City Code Chapter 12-3, Article VI.

Under authority of City Code Chapter 12-3, Article VI, the Director of the Solid Waste Services Department [hereinafter Director] is authorized to adopt and revise rules, procedures and forms to implement provisions of that Chapter which regulate commercial and multi-family recycling in the City of Austin.

City Code Chapter 12-3, Article VI is designed to increase access to the benefits of recycling and waste reduction for area businesses and multi-family properties within the City of Austin and thus help increase the life of local landfills, decrease disposal costs for area businesses and multi-family properties, and have a positive impact on the environment generally in terms of reduced pollution and energy consumption.

The Ordinance requires that multi-family property owners and business owners provide on-site recycling opportunities to their residents and employees in much the same way that the City of Austin has provided this opportunity to single-family homes through curbside recycling. As is the case with the City of Austin’s curbside program, the participation of each individual resident or employee is voluntary.

1. “Commercial Business” is any commercial entity with 100 or more employees doing business within the City limits of Austin. In buildings or complexes which house a number of businesses with a single garbage collection service provided by the building owner or manager, the total number of employees in all such businesses must be 100 or more in order to be subject to this ordinance.
2. “Collect” or “collection” includes accept, accumulate, store, process, transport, market or dispose of as required by City regulations, Metro, state and federal law.
3. “Customer” means a business or a multi-family property that has arranged for recycling services to be provided by a service provider in exchange for compensation. Where several businesses share garbage containers and service, “Customer” refers only to the entity that arranges the service for all.
4. “Infraction” means a failure to comply with City Code or rules promulgated thereunder.
5. “Multi-Family Property” means any multi-family dwelling building or group of buildings that contain (s) 100 dwelling units or more on a single tax lot e.g. apartments, condominiums, mobile home parks which is not included in the City of Austin’s curbside refuse, recyclables, and yard trimmings collection program.
6. “Owner,” shall mean any persons, corporation, partnership or entity, or their agent (such as a condominium or homeowners association), jointly or severally, having an ownership interest in a multi-family property or business otherwise responsible for solid waste collection.
7. “Recyclable Material” is a material which otherwise would be abandoned or discarded but which can be utilized in the secondary material market. Such material includes, but is not limited to, newspaper, home office paper (“junk mail”), aluminum, steel and tin cans, glass bottles and jars, and #1 and #2 plastic bottles. Rather than providing an exclusive list of materials, this approach allows a business the flexibility to satisfy the ordinance by recycling special wastes unique to its operation.
8. “Recycling” means the series of activities, including collection, separation, and processing, by which products or other materials are recovered from or otherwise diverted from the solid waste stream.
9. “Recycling Plan Form” means the form provided by the City of Austin on which a Customer makes a commitment to comply with the City’s recycling requirement, specifying which materials they will recycle and who will collect the recyclables.
10. “Self-Haul,” when used in reference to recyclable materials generated by a commercial entity or multi-family property subject to this ordinance, means the collection and transportation of such material where an owner or employee or agent of the entity hauls the material rather than hiring a service provider to perform this function.
11. “Service Provider” means a person, firm or corporation engaged in the removal of solid waste, compostable material and/or recyclable material from any location within the City of Austin.
12. “Source Separation” shall mean a process that separates the recyclable material from solid waste prior to collection for the purpose of recycling such materials.
13. "Material Recovery Facility" is any business, organization or facility that accepts recyclable materials from residential or business sources and processes these materials by sorting, baling, crushing or granulating, for the purpose of recycling them.

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