Austin All food enterprises in Austin are now required to recycle compost-able material by 2017 after Austin City Council amended an ordinance April 25.

Dustin Fedako, co-founder of East Side Compost Pedallers, spoke at the council meeting in favor of the changes.

"There's an enormous opportunity for our city to move toward zero-waste [status] by taking advantage of finding a better place in the landfill for these resources," Fedako said.

Compostable materials are organic materials that can be decomposed under controlled conditions to be reused as fertilizer.

Food enterprises are allowed to hire a company to remove the compost.