AUSTIN, Texas — The city of Austin wants to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and Seattle by creating a zero-waste plan that will eradicate the garbage it sends to landfills.

Austin wants to lower the waste it sends to landfills by 20 percent per capita by 2012, and achieve zero-waste status by 2040, according to the Associated Press.

The city hired Gary Liss & Associates of California to write its zero-waste plan. The firm also has written similar plans for the two California cities of Oakland and Palo Alto.

"With the focus on global warming in the past few years, more communities seem to feel comfortable adopting the zero waste goal," Gary Liss told the Associated Press. "These plans could dramatically affect climate change by reducing the methane from landfills and changing the flow of materials through the economy."

The city also plans on making it easier for residents to recycle by opening a single-stream facility during the next two years. This will save residents the hassle of sorting recyclables by allowing them to place all recyclable materials in one curbside bin.