Reader Profile: Ron Romero

Ron Romero loves Austin, TX, and the job he has with Austin Resource Recovery at the City of Austin. As the Division Manager over Curbside Collection Services, Romero gets to see firsthand the garbage and recycling habits of Austin residents. Austin has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years, and keeping up with the collection needs of Austin residents can be somewhat challenging. He manages 150 well-trained and experienced employees and a fleet of more than 120 pieces of equipment. His team collects about 130,000 tons of garbage and 54,000 tons of recycling each year from about 190,000 customers.

Romero’s division is a big part of the City of Austin’s Zero Waste initiative to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills by 90% by the year 2040. Zero waste is a philosophy that focuses first on reducing trash and reusing products and then recycling and composting the rest. Zero waste recognizes that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and everything is a resource for something or someone else. Austin Resource Recovery is committed to achieving zero waste by providing excellent customer services that promote waste reduction, increase resource recovery, and support the City of Austin’s sustainability efforts. Austin wants to be the national zero waste leader in the transformation from traditional integrated waste collection to sustainable resource recovery.

What He Does Day to Day
Romero’s day can be unpredictable; no day is ever the same. Managing the day-to-day operation of both garbage and recycling collection can be quite hectic. Personnel challenges, equipment challenges, and the occasional weather challenge could possibly complicate a well-planned out day. Meetings with staff, City officials, and Austin Resource Recovery customers could constitute a typical morning, while the afternoon schedule may be filled with process improvement planning, and operational and program review. Being responsible for a division that is constantly changing requires him to wear many hats. A strong support team of assistant managers and supervisors help alleviate a lot of the smaller tasks, giving Romero the time to work with other department division managers and the Executive Team to address the larger issues and focus on future planning.

What Led Him to This Line of Work
Romero’s career with the City of Austin and Austin Resource Recovery spans more than 20 years. While taking an environmental class at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University) he started to understand the impact of pollution on the environment. He began to research and observe various issues that were facing Texas and Austin in particular. The environmental seed was planted and has grown ever since. He applied and was hired by the Environmental Conservation Services Department with the City of Austin. Romero started as an administrative assistant in the ’90s and has been promoted to various positions over the years. The original department has now evolved and changed its name to Austin Resource Recovery. For 20 years, he’s been involved in the operation, budgeting, planning, and management of various aspects of solid waste management with the City of Austin. “This journey is exciting and always changing.”

What He Likes Best
There are so many things Romero likes about his job. The “unpredictable” factor keeps him on his toes. Meeting directly with customers and being able to address their concerns and issues is important to him. Romero really enjoys staying connected to customers. Reviewing garbage and recycling statistics gives him ideas of where the department’s focus should be and what possible program improvements or enhancements can be made. He feels that his division is the nucleus of the department. Having a hand in the push to increase the diversion rate in Austin and playing a large part in Austin’s Zero Waste Plan is exciting to him.

“Our Department wants to make Austin, Texas, the greenest city in the United States,” he says, “and I get to play a major role in that goal. Wow!”

His Greatest Challenge
Romero says the biggest challenge for Austin and its residents is embracing the new zero waste philosophy. This requires some different thinking on the customer’s part and realizing that their habits can positively or negatively affect our future. It’s the City’s responsibility to educate them.