Good morning.

My name is Ed Flynn, City Councillor for District Two, Chair of the City Council Committee on City Services.

Today is September eighteenth, twenty twenty-six.

The exact time is ten zero eight.

This hearing is being recorded.gov slash city council dash TV in broadcast on Xfinity Channel Eight.

Email at CCC.gov and will be a part of the record and available to all city councillors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing, or maybe throughout the hearing.

Individuals will be called on in order in which they sign up and we'll have two minutes to testify.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list.

I also want to say thank you to Ron Cobb for being here and for Ethan as well, and appreciate the city council central staff for supporting this hearing.

Today's hearing is on Docket 0773.

This is an order for a hearing to discuss the status of the City of Austin's curbside food waste collection program.

The matter was sponsored by City Councillors Gabriella Coletta Zapata, Councillor Sharon Durkin, and Councillor Rootsy Louis Gen, who was referred to the committee on April 8th 2026.

Today I am in I I am joined by Councillor Coletta Zapata.

Councilor Louis Genesis, at this time I don't have any letters of the absence, but if I do receive them, I will read them into the record.

I'm gonna give my council colleagues the opportunity to give an opening statement and I'll give an opening statement after them.

But I'm gonna go to Councillor Coletta Zapata to provide an opening statement.

Then I will go to Council Louis Gen, and then I'll I'll give a brief one myself.

Council Clotta Zapata, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Chair, and um thank you to my co-sponsor, Councilor Louis Gen for being here.

Um I filed this hearing because Boston has made meaningful progress on food waste diversion, and as the program evolves, the council should understand where we are, uh, what is working, who still lacks access, and what it will take to build the system we want.

And I just want to acknowledge um folks from the administration who are here, Chief SWAT, thank you.

Um, Director Osgood.

Um and I'm so sorry I don't have your name.

I want to be sure to get it correct if you wouldn't mind just saying it out loud.

Avantaka Mato I will convey suction.

Okay, what's your first name?

Avantica.

Avantica.

Okay.

Thank you so much for being here, Ivantica.

Thank you.

Um, our zero waste plan established an ambitious ambitious goal of diverting at least 80% of our waste from disposal by 2030, sorry uh 2035.

Food waste has to be a significant part of that conversation.

When food ends up in our traditional trash stream, we're not only wasting a resource, we're adding a necessary volume to a waste system that costs the city and has environmental consequences.

Our curbside program launched a pilot in 2022, provides free collection to residents in buildings with six units or fewer, and Project Oscar provides community drop-off locations available to residents regardless of building types.

We know demand exists.

Enrollment in curbside collection reached capacity, and residents have been waiting to participate.

Beginning this fall, the administration uh will be making some changes.

Um, and I think that there are um you know there's opportunity here, and I look forward to learning about what those changes are.

And I think we need to be clear about the trade-off for existing participants.

Collection frequency is being um uh uh talked about, and we'll learn more about it today.

And so finally, I just want us to um understand the larger question what Boston's food uh or long-term um food waste infrastructure looks like.

How do we build a system that is equitable, accessible, and environmentally responsible?

And again, I'm grateful to our administration, our partners for the work that has got gotten us here, and I'm looking forward to the discussion on how we build it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Coletta Zapata.

Next, Council Louis Gen.

Council Louis Gen, you have the floor.

Good morning, everyone.

Um very happy to be here.

I want to thank my co-sponsor, the lead sponsor, Councillor Coletta Zapata, and all the work that she does on this issue and on environmental issues in general.

I want to thank uh the chief for being here, director and avantica.

Thank you.

Uh it's nice to meet you, and thank you for the work that you do.

Um, I'm a big fan of our curbside food waste program, which is one of the reasons why I um asked the lead sponsor to co-sponsor, um, and I'd like to hear about sort of what are what is the good and the bad, and and to talk about um how the benefits of the uh curbside food program.

I also know that uh not only am I a fan, but my mother is a fan, my sister's been trying to get into the program.

Um, and so I think it's a it's a I think it also has so many other benefits for households.

Like for me, my trash never smells anymore because I'm freezing my food scraps and my food waste, and every Friday, like this morning, I put it out and they come and pick it up.

Want to shout out Henri, who is the driver who comes every Friday to pick up my food waste, lives in Rivera from Guatemala, so just want to say he waited for me this morning as I was getting home from the gym so that I can run in my house and bring out my little my my little compost bag.

Didn't have a lot.