Break it Down

Honored to be a featured in Austin Creative Reuse’s Sustainability Spotlight! 💚🧡💚

At ACR, we care about our environment and the sustainability of our community. Each month, we'd like to highlight people and organizations that are working to address the environmental and sustainability issues we face here in Austin, Texas. For this month's Sustainability Spotlight, we are featuring Break it Down, local compost and recycling service.

🥑 "We aim to find the highest-value end-use for the materials that we collect! Whether it’s diverting edible leftover food to feed animals or giving back to the earth through our full-service composting program, Break it Down is changing food waste diversion here in Austin." 📦

Find out more about Break It Down and the great sustainability work they do in our community below. 🧡♻️✨
https://www.austincreativereuse.org/2020/09/sustainability-spotlight-break-it-down/

A block of aluminum cans from our partner recycling facility Balcones Resources in Austin! Kinda pretty, isn't it? 😍
Whereas the quality of other recyclables degrades each time it's processed, an aluminum can is nearly infinitely recyclable back into itself. About 75 percent of all aluminum produced in the USA is still in use today! #♻️

Recycle all dat cardboard, biznazzes of Austin! ♻️ We talk a lot about composting at Break it Down - after all, it's the reason Melanie and Jeff started this whole thing 10 years ago! But we also make it easy for local businesses to recycle other materials such as corrugated cardboard, which is made of at least 3 distinct sections of paper. The production of 1 ton of virgin cardboard requires 3 tons of wood! Luckily, cardboard recycles very well.
#♻️

Break it Down hats for those sunny Texas days, y'all.
www.breakitdownaustin.com/shop

We love it so mulch 💚 Anyone else? Just us? Ok then. 😂

Shout out to our wonderful customer Wheatsville Food Co-op on Guad for stocking compostable produce bags! With single-use items on the rise during this public health crisis, any little bit helps to lessen the environmental impact 🙏💚

10 excellent reasons to compost from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance 💚 Now accepting suggestions for reason #11, 12, 17 and 49.

Happy Earth Week mah green freaks/everyone! 💚
"I RECYCLE". Who doesn't, these days? It's amazing how quickly recycling has become such a normal part of our lives that we couldn't imagine not having the option. Do you think composting is the next recycling? Leave us your opinion in the comments!

Plastic film: it's EVERYWHERE and yet it can't go in the recycle bin! Say whaaaat??? 😱
We speak the stretchy truth. Plastic films can cause show-stopping issues for the machinery at the materials recovery facility (MRF) by gumming up the works. The good news is that thin, stretchy plastic bags and film packaging CAN be recycled at a designated plastic film drop-off! Central Texas residents can take their bagged plastic films to HEB or Central Market where there are clearly marked containers in front of the store. Check out www.plasticfilmrecycling.org to find out where you can take your plastic film. (Side note, if you are one of our customers, we offer a plastic film recycling service just for you! Contact our account management team to discuss your options.
We'll be posting a helpful captioned video showing what types of film can be recycled soon! ♻️
#♻️

If recycling and composting are important to you, then you may also know that it's important to avoid contamination! What is contamination? Contamination occurs when a waste material ends up in the wrong bin. Unfortunately, not all contamination can be removed and there's a chance that a single piece of contamination could ruin a large volume of otherwise recyclable or compostable material. Now's as good a time as any to educate your family and friends on what goes where, or consider how your signage and education can be improved at work when you return. Break it Down provides free compost signs to our customers but we also love the Sign Maker (www.austintexas.gov/page/sign-maker), which was adapted from the City of San Francisco. It's free and fully customizable; and hey, maybe it's not a bad idea to put a few signs in your home! We could all use a reminder sometimes.

Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

Throwback to a simpler time 🧅🥕🍅
📷: Bouldin Creek Cafe's beautiful compost

::FREE:: PUBLIC CARDBOARD DROP-OFF 8:00am-2:00pm Monday-Friday at Break it Down ♻️
Break it Down is designated as a critical infrastructure business during the COVID-19 pandemic, and our public cardboard drop-off is currently open. If you have a car or pickup-truck of flattened cardboard, please follow the instructions below. If you have a larger load, please call 512.497.3477 ext. 1.

PLEASE READ for directions and safety protocols:

We are located on East MLK just past 183. Our address is 7400 FM 969, Austin, TX 78724. You can navigate via Google or Apple Maps.

When you see the train tracks up ahead, slow down and get into your left turn lane. Turn left into the FIRST entrance with our sign. The second entrance is a mechanic/car wash.
Drive through the open gate until you see the cardboard drop-off sign.
Please load your flattened cardboard into the containers while wearing gloves or after sanitizing your hands, and practice social distancing on site to protect the public health. If you are sick, please stay home and come back 3 days after your symptoms are gone.

Note that we do not accept packing materials like styrofoam, soft foams, and plastic films with the cardboard.

The drop-off is currently FREE of charge! 💚 Please check our website at www.breakitdownaustin.com if you choose to come back, as hours and availability may change.

Dear Austin,
This is an uncertain time for us all. Many of our customers, community members, and friends have had to make some very difficult decisions in the last week. Our hearts go out to every person, and what they have built, who has been affected by this crisis. This is the time to unite and trust in our resolve to overcome whatever life throws at us. We love you and we stand by you. Wash your hands, be safe, stay healthy.
- Your team at Break it Down
#❤️

We're a day late but Happy International Women's Day from Break it Down! First shot is of our CEO Melanie MacFarlane, who had an idea💡to collect compostable serviceware from businesses after a yoga class over 10 years ago 💪 Our managerial and administrative staff is 86% women and we would NOT be here without them! Here are a few of their faces/power stances. Keep rockin' it, you badasses of compost. 🔥
#💪 @ Break it Down

Kerbey Lane Cafe is definitely HOT for compost - they've been doing it with Break it Down at all of their locations for approximately forever. Words cannot express how badass we think this is or how much we appreciate what they do for Austin's environment so instead we made this dorky picture. We 💚 U Kerbey Lane(s)!

Things We Pull Out Of The Compost, first edition. Not pictured: 🍇🍊🍅

NOW COMPOSTING with Break it Down! 💚♻️🌿🍕 brewing and pizza in Dripping Springs just started composting, y'all! No pizza box left behind! Located just west of Belterra with a great vibe and cheesy 'za, Suds Monkey is a family operation doing the right thing even though they don't have to. Welcome to the green team!
🤜♻️🤛

HEY Y'ALL! Break it Down is in the this week! Our co-founders/co-owners Melanie MacFarlane and Jeff Paine got interviewed and 📸 snapped as well as our warehouse workers Harrell and Michael processing food waste (and no doubt hunting for contamination)! 🤩 Check it out online (link in bio) or doggy-ear page 39 and get ready for some interesting facts about compost, contamination, and the City of Austin's goal to be zero waste by 2040, as well as some sobering truths about landfills. If after reading you're curious to learn more or motivated to take action, don't hesitate to reach out - we have some great resources to share. We're excited to be a part of the solution and thankful to be represented in this conversation. 💚
Article by Lina Fisher // photo credit John Anderson @ Austin, Texas

We got some brand new babies today, 96-gallon recycling carts! Hanging out next to our older babies, the reliable 55-gallon blue barrel. Or maybe they are adolescents by now, maybe even college grads. Here's to our growing family! :3

Happy Valentine's Day from Break it Down and Ms. Mother Nature - we've been going steady for about 10 years 💚
compostyall #💚

APARTMENT COMPOSTING! Did you know that Break it Down services multi-family housing? And did you know that the City of Austin is launching a composting pilot program for y'all from March through August? The application deadline is THIS SATURDAY February 1st. If there are green folks at your complex this is a great opportunity for your management team to try something risk free and stay ahead of the sustainability curve in Austin. DM us with your email address and we'll hook you up with the info sheet and application ASAP 👌🌿 Pictured here is a real life composting program at an apartment in town; compost on the left in green 🙌 You'll notice a combo lock on the cart, which is to keep the compost pure 💚 Codes can be given it to all residents or reserved for residents that complete a compost training. @ Austin, Texas

Ever wondered what Break it Down's staff waste station looks like? We used the customizable Sign Maker tool that the City of Austin adapted from the City of San Francisco to make color coded, descriptive signs with minimal text and photographs of materials in our waste stream. There are a lot of different items to keep track of these days and we're all doing the best we can! Keep a look out for a post where ixi from sales takes you on a quick tour of what goes in where at Break it Down, especially a particularly confusing one: plastic film! ♻️💚🌿
@ Break it Down

Shout out to Tiffany for being an all around badass 😎 Not only does she take care of our customers every day with a helpful attitude and a kind smile, AND manages our customer service team with grace, but she regularly jumps in a truck to haul compost back to the warehouse and gets IN the compost to pull out contaminants. She cares deeply about the environment and our staff, and it shows. Break it Down runs smoothly in no small part to her dedication and sense of humor about all things 😁 If you're one of our customers and have talked to Tiffany, you know I speak the truth! Let's show her some green love by planting a tree...and/or putting a compostable fork in the right place 💚
@ Break it Down

At Break it Down we have two types of compost carts and one type of compost cat (swipe left):
1. 64-gallon toter for lighter materials // 2. 55-gallon barrel for heavier materials and liquids // 3. Lieutenant Coggins // 4. Also Lieutenant Coggins
We love our fleet 🧡💚🧡
@ Break it Down

Happiest of Holidays to you and yours from everyone here at Break it Down! ⭐️ We are so grateful for you ⭐️ We're operating every day except Christmas Day and New Year's Day! Pickups on those days have already been rescheduled accordingly, thanks to our awesome logistics and account management teams 💪 Don't forget to compost your food scraps and trees, and enjoy the season! 🌿💚

We don't show our faces enough. This is Joe, our logistics manager. He's the one routing your pickups and making sure the requested changes to your service get made each day. He's the one ensuring the trucks go out with the correct number and type of containers. Sometimes he's even the one slinging your compost and recycling, and that is not easy work, friends. And honestly, he does a lot more. Just yesterday he installed a refrigerator in our new office. He is kind of a hero. Just sayin'.

ATTENTION: public cardboard drop-off at our facility is on hold until further notice as we move our growing operation to a larger space! We apologize for the inconvenience. Stay tuned for updates. We love your dedication to sustainability and we look forward to offering this free service again in the new year ♻️

Break it Down updated their address.