Generation Zero Digital Toolkit

What Do I Do With

• • The City of Austin’s guide for community members to find out what to do with unwanted items

Austin Resource Recovery

• • A resource for all things recycling, composting and trash through the City of Austin

• • Single Stream Recycling Resource
  • Curbside Composting Collection Resource
    • Earn a rebate to get started on your own backyard composting system

The Texas Farmers Market at Mueller and Lakeline

• • If you don’t have curbside composting, can’t have backyard composting, the farmers market will take your food scraps for FREE
  • Be sure to look at the link for a full list of items they will take

Recycle and Reuse Drop Off Center

• • Drop off recycled, reused, or safely discarded items
    • Includes Styrofoam, hazardous waste, electronics, soft plastics, yard trimmings and many more items!
  • This center is FREE to Austin residents
  • Other services you may find useful at the center:
    • ReUse Store – a FREE store for Austin residents to pick up items that other community members have dropped off that are in working condition
    • Austin Reblend– FREE recycled paint made from paint that has been dropped off at the center
    • Mulch – you can pick up mulch for FREE as long as you load it yourself

Fix-it clinics

• • Hosted by Austin Resource Recovery
  • FREE clinics where community members work with volunteer repair coaches to repair their broken household items

Austin Reuse Directory

• • Created by The Austin Common and supported by Austin Resource Recovery
  • Allows you to easily find a new home for items you no longer need

Batteries

• • Cannot go into the blue, single stream recycling bin
  • Check out the link to find a drop off location near you

Austin Creative Reuse

• • Collects, distributes, and sells reusable materials and items from organizations, businesses, and individuals
  • Great for donating or purchasing classroom or activity materials

Zero Waste Block Leader

• • Through Austin Resource Recovery
  • Share the word about recycling and composting in your neighborhood
  • Serve as a community leader

311 App

• • Report a littering issue (also other issues) to the City of Austin

Recycled Reads Bookstore

• • Receives all of the Public Library’s discarded materials as well as donations from community members
  • They sell, recycle and repurpose materials and benefit the Public Library

Austin Yellow Bike Project

• • A non-profit will take old bikes and bike parts
  • You can also volunteer and potentially earn a bike.

Austin Materials Marketplace

• • This is a resource for businesses and organizations to share waste and by-product materials instead of sending them to the landfill
  • Must join to have access, AISD may have an account you just need access to

Zero Waste Event Guidelines

• • Make the next event at your school zero waste

Christmas Tree Recycling

• • Don’t send it to the landfill, recycle it here for FREE right in Austin

Citizens Convenience Center

• • Located at Texas Disposal Systems (TDS)
  • Has a Fee
  • They also have a Resale Center, which they refer to as “Austin’s best unadvertised garage sale”

Litterati App

• • Identify and map the litter around you
  • Turn this into a scavenger hunt by having students come up with a list of items they think would be most commonly found on the school’s campus. Reward the student who collects the most items.
    • ***Don’t forget to talk to students about safety when encouraging litter cleanups!

City of Austin Recycling Game

• • A resource for practicing how to properly sort waste items

Virtual Online Landfill and Recycling Tours 

• • Has tours available depending on the age group of your students

Virtual Tour of Texas Disposal Systems (TDS)

• • TDS is the company that collects trash, recycling and composting from AISD schools.
  • Overview Tour of the facility
  • Landfill/Compost Tour– A more in-depth tour of landfill and compost facilities, and the exotic game ranch onsite
  • Materials Recovery Facility Tour– A more detailed tour of the Material Recovery Facility (MRF)

Balcones Recycling Center Tour

• • A virtual tour of another MRF in the North Austin area

Diversion Dash

• • Practice sorting your waste at home

Ready to Recycle

• • Learn about ‘special recycling’ items and where you can take them in the City of Austin

Compost Critters

• • Learn about composting and the critters that help make it all happen

Upcycled Dog Toys

• • Connect creativity and the City of Austin’s Zero Waste goal by having students create dog toys out of old t-shirts
  • Provides and opportunity for service learning if students donate the toys created

Can Planter

• • Connect creativity and the City of Austin’s Zero Waste goal by having students create flower pots out of used aluminum cans

Litter Lifeline

• • Learn how long it takes for common items to decompose in our environment
  • Activity kit available through Keep Austin Beautiful
    • See link at the bottom on this section!

Landfill Logic

• • Compare and contrast characteristics of waste, what’s in our trash, and how trash is processed in a landfill while building a mini landfill model
  • Activity kit available through Keep Austin Beautiful
    • See link at the bottom on this section!

Waste Audit

• • Perform an audit of your school’s waste/recycling to learn about types of waste generated
  • Students will audit several bags of waste, record and graph the results, learn how to recycle correctly, and formulate a plan to do a service project concerning waste at school
  • No activity kit available, but if resources are needed Keep Austin Beautiful may be able to provide supplies. Please e-mail to inquire

Watershed Model

• •  Find the watershed you live in, identify pollutants that affect it, and how you can take action to protect it
  • Activity kit available through Keep Austin Beautiful
    • See link at the bottom on this section!

Here is a link to our FREE activity kits.

Green Action Centre

• • Find waste reduction activities including making recycled paper, art with waste, life of product activity, conservation reminders, and many more!

Litterless lunch

• • Challenge your students to pack a literless lunch
  • Some guidelines and suggestions to achieve this

Composting as a science experiment

Cafeteria Ranger Program

• • Start this in your lunchroom
  • This program encourages students to take leadership over the waste your school generates, educate other students, and give students.

Waste Signs

• • Create signs about what items belong in the trash, recycling, and compost bins to label bins in your school
  • Provided by the City of Austin

Bright Green Future School Grant

Sustainable Intelligence Program 

• • Provided through EcoRise

Road Runner Bus for field trips

• • Gives steep discounts for Title 1 Schools looking for field trip transportation with CiNCA membership
    • Membership is FREE for teachers

Children & Nature Network

• • Research library with over 900 articles supporting education in nature.

Hornsby Bend

• • Great place to take students on a FREE field trip

• • • Open Dawn until dusk 7 days a week
      • At this location you can go to learn about the Biosolids Management Plant, go birding with students, and walk along the trails
      • Opportunity for a FREE individualized teacher training so educators are comfortable using Hornsby Bend as an educational site for field trips
        •  Reach out using the contact page for training opportunities.

Dillo Dirt

• • Learn about how Austin Water is turning biosolids and yard trimmings into
    • Here is a link to a video about the role Hornsby Bend plays in the process.