Materials Lab field trip: Texas Disposal Systems

Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) was the first totally integrated landfill, recycling, and compost facility in TX, and opened in 1991. Today TDS serves more than 35 counties in central Texas. 100% of the city of Austin's trash and 60% of our recyclables now go to the TDS landfill. We took a tour of TDS' extensive facilities, which include not only the landfill but the single-stream recycling center, composting field, construction debris sorting area, Garden-ville (an organic gardening retailer), artist-in-residence studios, Resale shop, and exotic game ranch. 

A big thanks to Adam Gregory, our tour guide, for being such a great host. Of the many interesting bits he shared with us: a confident prediction that in the future we'll be mining our landfills for resources. He asked us to consider the energy and time that goes into mining operations to find bits of material in large swathes of the landscape - in comparison, landfills are concentrated areas full of large concentrations of materials. Mind-blowing!

Texas Disposal Systems
Tour guide: Adam Gregory