Austin wants to create a central hub for trash before it goes to landfills - Austin Monitor

Austin Resource Recovery plans a central transfer station where city garbage and composting trucks will unload into larger trucks for out-of-town disposal. Currently, collection trucks sometimes travel more than 30 miles to landfills and composting sites. The transfer station would be located closer to central Austin so sanitation workers can transfer loads into larger trucks and return to routes faster, improving service and reducing emissions. The facility would enable disaster-stage drop-off and could simplify electrifying the fleet by reducing required battery range. A feasibility study of five sites found increased collection costs unless the station generated revenue, and one property on Harris Branch Parkway scored best.

Right now, when city waste collection trucks fill up on their routes, the drivers need to go long distances - sometimes more than 30 miles - to empty out at landfills and composting sites. The transfer station would be closer to the central city, where city sanitation workers would move the loads into much bigger trucks before the long haul.

"This is gonna be a big building, everything is gonna be done totally indoors. No trash sits there overnight, all trash will be removed every day," said Austin Resource Recovery Director Richard McHale. "So this isn't the final disposal facility, merely a transfer facility." McHale said having that central hub will help drivers return to their routes faster, improving service. It would also provide new space for waste drop off after natural disasters and could help electrify the city's fleet of garbage trucks because they will not need the battery range necessary.

But the project comes at a cost. The city and consultants from NewGen Strategies and Solutions conducted an economic feasibility study looking at five potential sites for the station. They found the facility would increase the cost of city garbage and compost collection unless the transfer station generated its own revenue. It could do that by accepting trash from private waste pickup companies for a fee.

Read at Austin Monitor