Place food scraps, yard trimmings, pizza boxes, food-soiled paper products, and other compostable items into your green compost cart. Use this tool to find out what you can compost. We like to say, if it grows, it goes.
Roll the green cart out to your curb before 6:30 am on your regular pickup day.
Keeping your compost cart fresh
While it is not required, there are a few things you can do to keep your compost cart from smelling bad:
- Line your compost cart with a paper bag or use BPI-certified compostable bags. If you don’t have a bag, you can put dry leaves, pizza boxes, or newspaper on the bottom of your cart. Sprinkling baking soda on the bottom will also help keep the smell down.
- Keep your compost cart in the shade if possible, and always keep the lid closed to contain the smell and to keep bugs and animals out of your cart.
Why compost?
When buried in a landfill, compostable materials do not break down as they would in nature or in a compost pile. Instead of going to a landfill, where they would release methane into the atmosphere, organic materials placed in the green carts are taken to a local composting facility, where they break down into compost. Compost helps soil retain water and fertilizes lawns and gardens without using chemicals.
Save money with your green cart
You will have less trash to throw away each week after putting food scraps and food-soiled paper in your green cart. This may allow you to downsize to a smaller, less expensive trash cart. Austin Resource Recovery offers four trash cart sizes – the smaller the cart, the less it costs each month.