You can now recycle aluminum foil

AUSTIN (KXAN) - If you live in Austin, you can now add more things you can throw into your recycling bin.

Austin Resource Recovery announced today curbside customers can now add the following metal items:

• Aluminum baking tins (clean/free of food residue)
• Aluminum trays, pie plates (clean/free of food residue)
• Clean balled aluminum foil (2 inches or longer)

The expanded service comes at no extra cost.

The expansion of the city's recycling services comes in pursuit of an ambitious goal: to redirect 90 percent of waste from Austin-area landfills by year 2040.

“The contracts that we have recently started up with the Balcones and TDS have allowed us to add a new recyclable item every year. This is our new recyclable item for this year,” said Bob Gedert, Austin Resource Recovery Director.

It's believed more people don't recycle because they're unsure of what can and cannot be reused.

“We feel that residents want to recycle. Sometimes they're knowledgeable what they can put in the blue cart, sometimes they're hesitant to put it in the blue cart, and then they put it in the trash cart,” Gedert stated.

In case you didn't already know, Austin Resource Recovery accepts glass, cardboard, boxboard, mix paper, aluminum, metal cans, and plastic containers.

The city is also launching a "Recycle Right" campaign in an effort to educate Austinites on how and what to recycle.

 For more information on recycling procedures in Austin go to austinrecycles.com.