AUSTIN (KXAN) — Earth Day events are taking place all across Austin this weekend.
With a wide variety of environmental protection efforts underway, the city has asked Austinites to drop off plastic bags and bottles at Public Library locations.
“Our goal is to get out in the community and encourage Austinites to bring us their single-use plastic bags and plastic bottles for use over Earth Day weekend,” Austin Resource Recovery spokesman Andrés Cantú said.
Friday is the final drop-off day, and anyone is welcome to stop by the Austin Public Library North Village Branch location from 3-5 p.m.
Austin Resource Recovery plans to repurpose the plastic into reusable materials at its Earth Day events this weekend:
- Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. | Earth Day Jubilee at International Shores
- Sunday, April 23, 2023, 12-4 p.m. | Green Fest at Waterloo Greenway
Anyone is welcome to stop by and use these materials to create crafts, such as plastic planters and piggy banks.
Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes.
Looking forward, Austin is aiming to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills by 90% by the year 2040.
According to the city’s waste management utility, the diversion rate at the end of fiscal year of 2021 was approximately 42%.
ARR is also urging residents to download the Austin Recycles App or use the ‘What Do I Do With’ tool, to ensure only accepted plastics are put in blue curbside carts.
