AUSTIN, Texas — Austin is now the first city in Texas to require apartments and other multi-family complexes to provide composting to its residents.

The move is part of an effort by the city to reach a zero-waste goal by 2040.

It may just start as trash, though the end product is anything but.

“We started in 2009 out of my front yard with a half-ton Nissan pickup truck. Just a vague idea, a lot of naive optimism,” Break It Down owner Jeff Payne said. “What are we what are we doing with that food waste? How much value are recreating with it?”

Break It Down provides recycling and composting services to close to 1000 customers, mainly businesses like restaurants, and turns it into compost or fertilizer instead.

“We’re moving somewhere around 20 tons a day,” Payne said. “And to be honest, that’s kind of the tip of the iceberg.”

Payne says left alone, all that garbage becomes a big contributor to climate change.

“Food waste, when it goes into a landfill, doesn’t break down so well,” Payne said. “It’s going to tend to generate methane, which is a greenhouse gas.”

That’s why the city of Austin is now requiring multi-family complexes like apartments to provide composting services as of October 1st.

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“We can take those to composting facilities, where they are turned into nutrient-rich compost, which then can be redirected back into our communities.” Paul Bestgen with Austin Resource Recovery said.

Bestgen says composting is nothing new since it’s already offered for single-family homes and required for restaurants. But he says currently, the city is only at 40-percent landfill diversion of its 90-percent goal by 2040.

“… and so we need to be able to find different ways to get that number to move up,” Bestgen said.

Complexes which also include nursing homes and condos will have a year to comply.

“Our goal is to answer their questions, and help them overcome any obstacles that they are facing so that they can add this collection service for their residents,” Bestgen said.

But he recognizes it’ll also be a culture shift for residents too.

“You can start small,” Bestgen said. “You can start by just composting, maybe your apple cores or a banana peel.”

Payne says composting is just one small step for the home, with a big impact on the planet.

“I really only need to take the trash out once a week, and that keeps it simple,” Payne said. “And my trash can never stinks, so that’s nice.”

For a guide on what you can and can’t compost, the city has created a website here.

Everything is bigger in Texas — even the tacos. Searching for a new taco spot, I stumbled upon an Austin staple. It was the sign they had out front that enticed me to walk in.

Casa Moreno’s is home to the suicide burrito. Now what exactly is a suicide burrito … naturally my curiosity took over, so I made my way into Casa Moreno’s to find out.

I walked in and was immediately seated. The restaurant was quiet and empty for a Wednesday morning.

I looked over the menu and realized that Casa Moreno’s didn’t serve your simple tacos but super-sized ones. Every taco is made with a 12-inch homemade flour tortilla.

Since they are “home of the suicide burrito,” it only made sense for me to order the suicide taco. The suicide taco is burrito-sized and filled with bacon, egg, potatoes, beans, and cheese for $6.99.

Casa Moreno’s also serves carne guisada, barbacoa, fajitas, al pastor, migas, machacado and picadillo super-sized tacos.

I decided that one super-sized taco wasn’t enough, so I ordered the al pastor taco as well for $4.99.

Let’s just say that Casa Moreno’s deserves a round of applause. The tortillas undoubtedly are the best I have had in Austin.

The suicide taco was massive. Large potato chunks fell out of the taco with every bite. The cheese was perfectly melted on the eggs and bacon, making for an award-winning breakfast taco.

The al pastor taco was delicious, although I will say they could have added more meat to it since the tortilla is so big.

Casa Moreno’s is located at 5001 E. Ben White Blvd. in Austin, Texas.

Casa Moreno’s is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and is closed on Sunday. They also have a lunch buffet Monday through Friday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and happy hour Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Items I want to try on my next visit:

• Richard’s Plate – breakfast sausage grilled with potatoes, pico, yellow corn, topped with two eggs
• Machacado Taco – barbacoa mixed with eggs and pico
• Chori Queso Fries – french fries topped with chili con queso and chorizo

AUSTIN, Texas — The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, praised a judge’s decision to deem parts of a 2021 Texas elections law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said wording that made it a felony to be compensated for helping voters with their mail-in ballots was too vague. 

“It would criminalize almost every activity that was being undertaken by LULAC volunteers to help people, voters with their vote, to get the vote out,” said Gloria Leal, general counsel for LULAC. 

In late August, Paxton authorized multiple home raids of LULAC volunteers based on the law. He said the ruling is deeply troubling and “risks undermining public trust in our political process.” LULAC officials hope the ruling will put an end to what they say is the targeting of Latino voters in Texas. But they expect an appeal from the AG, who vowed to do so.

“The fight will continue because this was just a ruling on one issue,” said Leal. 

The judgment also marks the second loss in a week for Paxton. The Texas Supreme Court sided with the City of Dallas in Paxton’s lawsuit to stop the State Fair of Texas from enacting its gun ban policy. 

Paxton reacted by stating, “While Texas clearly prohibits this type of gun ban, I will be working with the Legislature this session to protect law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights on public property.” 

Including the lawsuit against the City of Dallas, Paxton has filed 10 lawsuits since the end of August. 

“It’s not typical, but it speaks to the increasing partisan divisions and the kind of hard ideological edge that Paxton has brought to the attorney general position,” said Matthew Wilson, a professor of political sciences at Southern Methodist University. 

Four of Paxton’s lawsuits are against the Biden administration while six are against local governments. Those includes a lawsuit against Harris County over a program to give low-income residents $500 a month. He sued Bexar County and Travis County over voter registration efforts and targeted the City of Austin for using tax dollars to help women access out-of-state abortions.

Paxton also sued Travis County on Monday for alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

“Texas state government is dominated by Republicans, but the biggest cities in Texas are all controlled by Democrats,” said Wilson.  

The ACLU of Texas says it sees a negative trend from the attorney general’s actions with just five weeks to the general election.

“Attempting to prevent people from voting, to remove them from voter rolls, and also just to make people feel uncomfortable exercising their right to vote and instilling a sense of fear for eligible voters,” said Ashley Harris, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas.

But voters may be none the wiser. 

“This is much more an attempt to, if anything, scare the cities,” said Wilson.