Restaurants in Austin can't throw away food anymore. A new law starting this month requires restaurants to compost food scraps or give them away, as part of the city's Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) that aims to make the southern city more sustainable.
As part of Texas’ Zero Waste by 2040 pledge, all food enterprises (which includes restaurants, shops, and farm markets that serve made-to-order food, as well as places that prepare and process food) will need to use alternatives from sending organic materials to landfills. The measure also requires that employees receive training about handling the waste.