AUSTIN, YOU ARE "WEIRD" AND I LOVE IT!

City of Austin officials want to cut down on waste at festivals such as South by Southwest and Austin City Limits.

City Council Members Lee Leffingwell and Mike Martinez are drafting an ordinance that would establish recycling and other "green" requirements to obtain city permits for events with 100 or more participants that request to use city facilities. Those who don't comply may be denied access to city facilities and requests for public street closures. The ordinance could affect marathons, rallies, film screenings -- like those held at Republic Square Park during the summer -- and other events.

"Use of a public venue for an event is a privilege, and there is a certain responsibility that goes with that privilege,"

Leffingwell says. "If [event organizers] comply with the [ordinance], they will be able to continue to exercise that privilege. And if they don't, they won't."

As part of the ordinance, expected to be reviewed by the council in late August or early September, the city may ban plastic water bottles, Styrofoam and paper items. It may offer complimentary or discounted rates for compostable material disposal.

Violators could be subject to civil penalties, and access to city facilities could be permanently revoked.

"When most people go to community events in a public venue, there is an awful lot of waste. The ordinance will provide both the carrot and the stick [for participants] to do a better job to manage waste, clean up after themselves and be good citizens. We want to both require and reward good behavior," Leffingwell says.

City staff say exact figures on how much waste is produced at public events are unavailable.

But "if you go out and observe roadways and see the number of paper cups, etc., you can see it's a lot," Leffingwell says. "You don't have to quantify it to know there is something that has to be done about it."

Through the ordinance, event organizers may be able to promote how "green" their events are via a rating system tagged to features like use of solar-powered lighting and biodegradable supplies.

The ordinance is among several aggressive city initiatives meant to push Austin as a municipal green leader. Last year, the city launched a zero-waste program aimed at reducing garbage sent to landfills by 20 percent per capita by 2012 and achieving zero waste -- an international standard set by the United Nations Environmental Accord -- by 2040.

Also last year, Mayor Will Wynn spearheaded the Austin Climate Protection Plan. It pledges to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from all city activities by 2020, dramatically increase renewable power, reduce coal burning at Austin Energy and implement the most energy-efficient building codes in the nation.

For its part, Austin Energy offers rebates for businesses that use alternative energy sources and reduce energy use. Austin Energy and the city's water utility are part of a group of stakeholders meeting with city staff to draft an ordinance.

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