Plans to construct a central hub where city garbage and composting vehicles can transfer their loads to larger trucks before being transported to out-of-town disposal locations have been made public by Austin Resource Recovery.
According to department officials, the hub—also known as a transfer station—will lessen emissions from disposal vehicles and enhance city services. However, there are still concerns regarding the proposed facility’s location and cost.
Currently, drivers of city garbage collection trucks must travel great distances—up to thirty miles—to empty out at landfills and composting facilities after filling up on their routes.
Before the lengthy journey, city sanitation staff would switch the loads into considerably larger trucks at the transfer station, which would be closer to the center of the city.
Everything will be done entirely indoors in this large edifice. According to Austin Resource Recovery Director Richard McHale, no trash is left there overnight; instead, it will be taken out daily. Therefore, this is only a transfer facility and not the final disposal site.
According to McHale, having that single hub will improve service by enabling drivers to return to their routes more quickly.
Additionally, since the city’s fleet of garbage trucks won’t require the battery range required to reach distant landfills, it might assist electrify the fleet and create new space for waste drop-off following natural catastrophes.
However, the initiative has a price tag.
Five possible locations for the station were examined in an economic feasibility assessment carried out by the city and experts from NewGen Strategies and Solutions.
They discovered that unless the transfer station produced its own income, the facility would raise the cost of compost and city rubbish pickup. It might accomplish so by charging private garbage pickup businesses to pick up its rubbish.
Consultants determined that the optimum site for the transfer station was a property on Harris Branch Parkway in Northeast Austin out of all the options they examined.
The properties the consultants examined, however, are no longer available for the development, according to McHale.
According to him, the study provides us with a broad region in which to begin our search. Together with our real estate team, we have been searching for properties that we can actually present to the council for review and, ideally, approval.
He acknowledged that it can be challenging to locate solid waste facilities, but he hoped that neighborhood outreach would reassure residents that the transfer station will be a good neighbor.
The next round of that process will take place on August 27, when Austin Resource Recovery will provide the city’s Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee an update on the project.
As part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting collaboration with KUT, this story was created.
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