Let your Christmas tree do some good after you get rid of it. When that Christmas tree comes down this year, take a moment to imagine its next incarnation: Chipped up and mixed into soil, it might soon secure new grasses along some South Texas highway or sustain vegetable starts in someone’s garden. Adding weathered [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Solid Waste Management Department’
One bin to rule them all
This would be an innovative approach to deal with Houston’s unacceptably low recycling rate. Under what is being called “Total Reuse: One Bin for All,” residents would wheel everything to the curb in one barrel and let the city sort it out. If Houston can find a private-sector partner to help it build what could [...]
Recycle that polystyrene
From the Inbox: Polystyrene Foam Recycling Available Beginning Monday, June 25, 2012 Beginning Monday, June 25, 2012, the City of Houston will accept clean block style or packaging polystyrene foam at the Westpark Recycling Center, 5900 Westpark, Houston 77057 and the Environmental Service Center South, 11500 South Post Oak Lane, Houston 77045. Residents can drop off [...]
Going green to save some green
The city of Houston has made significant investments in energy savings. The U.S. Conference of Mayors named Mayor Annise Parker the winner of Mayors’ Climate Protection Award last year for green building initiatives that incentivize conservation and energy-efficient design features. “We don’t do it just because we get attention. We do it because it’s been [...]
Recycle your Christmas tree
And now, a message from the City of Houston Solid Waste Department: The City of Houston (COH) Solid Waste Management Department will embark on its 21st year of Christmas tree recycling(.pdf) after the holiday by providing recycling drop-off sites throughout Houston. All drop-off sites will be closed on New Year’s Day. Every year, Houstonians discard thousands [...]
Recycling for apartments coming to Houston
Last December I noted a program in San Antonio to expand recycling to apartment complexes. I said at the time that I hoped Houston would do the same as it broadens its recycling capabilities. I’m glad to say that late last week I received this press release from the Houston Apartment Association: The City of [...]
The landfills of Waller County
There are three things I find remarkable about this story about a proposed landfill in Waller County, near Hempstead. A Georgia-based company wants to build a landfill and industrial park just outside the city on Texas 6 and Kelley, on what is now 723 acres of private property known as the Deywood Ranch. Officials with [...]
The long-term recycling deal
I noticed this when it was posted last week but didn’t give it much thought at the time. There’s a 20-year no-bid contract on today’s City Council agenda. That’s legal because it’s an amendment to an existing contract, not a new contract. But it’s still got Councilman Ed Gonzalez‘s attention. He tagged it last week [...]
Composting
The city of Austin is looking for more ways to reduce the amount of solid waste that it puts in landfills. Aiming to cut down the waste that Austinites send to landfills, the City of Austin is sponsoring free composting classes through the summer. With roughly half the garbage sent to landfills made up of [...]
Deal to sell Center Street recycling center delayed
In addition to the Convention Center deal, the proposed sale of the Center Street recycling facility for $2 million was also on Council’s agenda for Wednesday. Two years ago the city had planned to sell the center and relocate it to the First Ward. Some First Ward civic leaders objected, and the sale was never [...]
On garbage fees and single stream recycling
You might have seen this blurb a few days ago about Solid Waste director Harry Hayes making a pitch to Mayor Parker to expand single stream recycling to every home in Houston: To reach 100 percent, Hayes told City Council today, would require a $3.50 monthly garbage fee. Houston is among the only major U.S. [...]
More single stream recycling
I love seeing this program get expanded. The city is expanding by 30,000 the number of households that can participate in its single-stream recycling program, which soon is expected to reach more than one out of every four Houston homes. The automated program allows citizens to place glass, paper, plastic containers, aluminum and cardboard into [...]
Compostable bag update
The city has decided to not begin fining people just yet for not using the new biodegradable bags for yard waste. I agree that most people just need clear instructions and reasonably durable bags to do this, and I’m glad to see that behavior has already changed quite dramatically: Before the program was implemented earlier [...]
Recycling pilot project update
As you know, Monday was the day that the new compostable bag ordinance went into effect. It was also the day that the city’s automated recycling program was to be extended to many more houses. From a story in the Houston Business Journal last month: The City of Houston is making its biggest expansion to [...]
How about a plastic bag tax?
A number of cities have adopted or considered adding a small tax to plastic bags as a means to raise a little money and cut down on landfill waste. Kevin Drum notes the experience of the Washington, DC nickel-per-bag tax, for which revenues, which are dedicated to the cleanup of the Anacostia River, have been [...]
More recycling coming
Good news. The city is poised to expand its automated recycling program to an additional 50,000 households, allowing roughly 1 in 5 Houstonians the opportunity to put paper, plastic, soda cans and glass into one wheeled trash-can-sized bin instead of a garbage can. [...] About $2.8 million in federal stimulus dollars paid for the new [...]
Biodegradable bag requirement postponed
Implementation of the new city ordinance requiring biodegradable bags for yard waste has been pushed back until April. The new start date is April 5, which is after the last major fall of leaves for the season, said Harry Hayes, the city’s solid waste director. By then, there should be more than enough of the [...]
Yard waste
I hadn’t realized that an ordinance requiring bbiodegradable bags for yard waste had been passed, but I like it. Under the ordinance, the city will not collect yard waste in plastic bags, and will fine residents up to $2,000 for putting leaves and clippings in garbage bins. Plastic bags, made from petroleum, are sturdy and [...]
Recycle thyself
I suppose I had assumed that the city of Houston was already collecting recyclables separately from trash. Apparently, that was not the case, but it will be now. The Solid Waste Management Department has implemented programs at breakneck speed to allow residents to recycle tree waste and empty various recyclables — including paper, plastic, even [...]