Zero Waste

Zero waste is more than just recycling—it's a mindset and approach aimed at minimizing waste, conserving resources, and protecting both the environment and human health. It prioritizes reducing waste at the source, reusing items whenever possible, and finally recycling or composting what remains.Through operational practices, education, and community partnerships, Austin ISD is working toward a future where less waste is sent to landfills and more resources remain in use.

Austin ISD is aligned with the City of Austin's goal of achieving Zero Waste by 2040, which means reducing the amount of trash sent to area landfills by 90%.

Explore the Zero Waste Toolkit.
View printable posters, class activities, and more.

Compost & Recycle

Compost & Recycling Data Available for Your School

Track your school’s progress in keeping waste out of the landfill through composting and recycling. This data, provided by Texas Disposal Systems, is a great tool for problem-based learning across many content areas. View AISD waste data through the EcoAcademy site:

Log into the Texas Disposal Systems Eco Academy website
Username: austin | Password: AISD

Lunchroom Composting & Recycling at Every School

All AISD schools have recycling and composting available for lunchtime waste. Since January 2022, AISD has diverted over 31 million pounds of waste from the landfill through school composting and recycling. Please do your part by properly sorting your waste into compost (green bag), recycling (white bag), and landfill trash (black bag) during meals.

Request Zero Waste & Trash Sorting Training

Zero Waste is a regular part of the monthly new custodial supervisor orientation.
If you are interested in receiving an interactive waste-sorting training for your class, school, or department, fill out the Eco Academy Contact Form, provided by AISD’s partner in zero waste, Texas Disposal Systems. You can also download Campus Waste Sorting Signs to be posted at your campus.

Golden Trashcan Awards

Each year, AISD and Texas Disposal Systems review each school’s waste diversion data and conduct audits to identify the schools that are exceptional in sorting properly and keeping waste out of the landfill. The winning schools are awarded the Golden Trashcan Award! Check out the past winners and aim for your school to be next!

Reduce, Reuse & Recover

School & Art Supplies Reuse

Austin ISD partners with Austin Creative Reuse to salvage new and gently used school supplies to circulate back into classrooms. Austin Creative Reuse has a wide array of resources for educators, including their Materials Mobile, annual Educator Extravaganza, field trips, and more. If you have items you would like to donate to ACR, schedule a donation here.

Food Services Waste Reduction

AISD Food & Nutrition services prevent waste by eliminating styrofoam trays, minimizing or eliminating packaging, providing reusable cups, trays, and cutleries where possible, to name a few. Food waste is also significantly reduced in our kitchens through scratch cooking, self-serve options, promoting share tables, and more. Learn more here.

Surplus Sales & Auction

Occasionally, the AISD Central Warehouse hosts surplus pop-up sales to make retired school materials available to the public. Surplus pop-up sales are promoted on social media and are open to the public. 100% of the proceeds go to support AISD students and schools while giving a new life to these goods. Additionally, the public can view and purchase equipment and materials available for auction on Public Surplus and Online Pros.

Battery & E-waste Recycling

The AISD Warehouse ensures batteries and e-waste are responsibly managed through certified R2 recyclers. See the battery recycling instructions and submit an AISD help request to the warehouse for e-waste pickup for computers, tablets, phones, printers, and other technology used in AISD schools. For protection of sensitive data, AISD does not sell devices that store data to the public.

Construction & Demolition Waste Reduction

Austin ISD requires all major construction projects to divert a minimum of 75% by weight of the total non-hazardous construction and demolition materials from landfill and incineration facilities. This is higher than the City of Austin’s 50% requirement. Building material reuse and salvage are also part of AISD’s construction waste management practices.

Resources

AISD BLEND Zero Waste class with resources
Kahoot games
Sorting slide shows
Access to Ecorise TEKS-aligned zero waste lessons for each grade
Waste audit guidance
Recycling and composting data available for each school
Standard Operating Procedures

Keep Austin Beautiful Generation Zero Waste

Generation Zero Waste provides free TEKS-aligned lessons, activity kits, and digital resources that help students explore recycling, composting, conservation, and waste reduction through engaging, hands-on learning.

What happens to our recyclables?

A Material Recovery Facility, or MRF, is where recyclables go after they leave the curbside bin. This video generalizes how a single stream MRF operates and how recyclables get sorted.