TRI Recycling has been a member of the Austin community since 1992. We were recycling before it was the cool thing to do. We developed recycling programs for the private sector garbage companies and served as their outsourced recycling provider. They put their carts out there and we collected them and recycled the material.

I stumbled into the recycling business due to my previous position as a utility consultant and rate analyst. As a consultant, I traveled to many cities across the United States and noticed some of these cities were developing waste diversion programs. Some of the commercial and residential facilities I was visiting had already developed sophisticated recycling programs. Some of the high rise residential facilities had unique chute systems in place where you could throw recyclables and trash down from the highest floors to centralized containers below.

So I asked myself, why don't we in Austin, Texas, have commercial or multi-family recycling programs or options like those of other cities? I asked the Austin Apartment Association, BOMA and the City of Austin Solid Waste Department - why not here? Well my question led to the forming of a citywide task force at the request of then Mayor Bruce Todd. As they say - the rest is history. Recycling is here.