O, Christmas tree

Where to recycle your Christmas tree in and around Austin

From drop-off locations to curbside collection, here is how to give your tree new life after the holidays.

With Christmas Day behind us, Central Texas residents can give their Christmas trees new life by recycling them.

There are five free drop-off locations open now: the East and West Service Centers in Austin, Northeast Metro Park in Pflugerville, the Del Valle Adult Softball Complex, and the 1431 Collection Station in Leander. These recycling locations are open through January 10.

If you're an Austin Resource Recovery curbside customer, you can set your tree out by 5:30 am on your compost collection day.

Austinites can also drop off their trees for recycling at Zilker Park, even if they are not Austin Resource Recovery customers. Drop-off is between 10 am and 2 pm on the following dates:

Sunday, December 31, 2022
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Sunday, January 8, 2023

Before recycling, make sure your tree is free of lights, decorations, wire, and garland. If your tree is 6 feet or taller, be sure to cut it in half.

Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) customers can put Christmas trees on the curb for collection on their regular yard trimmings pickup day. TDS is also accepting trees at its landfill in Creedmore and its collection site in Bee Cave. In Georgetown, Christmas trees will be accepted at the City of Georgetown Transfer Station until January 31 at no charge.

For a list of more tree drop-off locations in the Austin area, visit austintexas.gov/treerecycling.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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