The Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday that the project began this week and is meant to steer certain waste away from landfills.
Austin officials are asking about 7,900 households in five parts of the city to separate items such as egg shells, meat, chicken bones and leaves from their household trash. The compost material goes into new rolling carts for weekly transport by sanitation workers to a private composting company.
Organics by Gosh will process the materials into compost, which it plans to sell as fertilizer.
The trial run will cost Austin about $485,000, including the new carts. Richard McHale with Austin Resource Recovery says the city is not adding any staff for the program.
