Tag Archives: solid waste

Why are we subsidizing privatized HOA trash collection?

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor Whitmire says he’s on the lookout for waste in the budget. May I suggest he look here? Houston has subsidized the private trash collection of some affluent neighborhoods for almost 40 years, a policy that could complicate the city’s … Continue reading →

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We return once again to the subject of a garbage fee

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe this is the time it happens. Maybe not. Who can say? For many residents, Houston’s unreliable garbage collection is a familiar issue — and it’s one that even the city’s newly elected mayor apparently must confront. In his inaugural … Continue reading →

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City settles dumping complaint with Justice Department

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston will not face punishment after settling a Justice Department probe into whether the city’s system of responding to illegal dumping calls violated the Civil Rights Act by disregarding Black and Latino neighborhoods. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration reached a three-year voluntary resolution with … Continue reading →

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“One Clean Houston”

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Hope this works. Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday unveiled a $17.8 million illegal dumping initiative aimed at expediting cleanups, increasing surveillance and enforcement, and prioritizing areas hardest hit by Houston’s roadside trash problem. Standing beside an illegal dumpsite strewn with … Continue reading →

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DOJ investigating discrimination claims against Houston for response to illegal dumping

Posted on July 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I look forward to seeing what this finds. Huey German-Wilson and her Trinity Gardens and Houston Gardens neighbors kept finding tires, medical waste and other trash in their streets. So they took charge. They sought to log each instance with the city’s 311 … Continue reading →

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We don’t have enough garbage truck drivers

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We don’t pay them enough, it would seem. For the last few months, Juan Sorto and his neighbors have looked toward the curb on Thursdays and asked themselves the same uneasy question: Did the garbage trucks come? Last week, they had. … Continue reading →

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Why your recycling hasn’t been picked up yet

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Short answer: Staffing shortages, exacerbated by COVID. A staffing shortage in Houston’s solid waste management department is causing delayed and missed recycling pickups across the city, the agency confirmed. The Solid Waste Management Department is trying to fill 45 vacancies … Continue reading →

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Get ready to compost

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I hope this expands in the near future. The city launched a composting pilot program Wednesday, opening three sites where residents can drop off compost-friendly waste that otherwise would wind up in a landfill. The hope is the program will … Continue reading →

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Garbage fee trashed

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not surprised, though I’d have thought it would get more support that this. Houston City Council disposed of a proposed garbage collection fee in a pair of 16-1 votes Wednesday. Councilman Dwight Boykins, who floated the monthly fee as a … Continue reading →

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How would you implement Prop B?

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here, from last week, is Mayor Turner’s official announcement about layoffs, following a failure to come to an agreement with the firefighters’ union about a time frame to fully implement Prop B. Here’s the Chron story about the firefighters protesting … Continue reading →

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Garbage fee on the agenda

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t think this is going to pass, but it will get a vote. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday said he would put a proposed garbage fee on next week’s city council agenda, but will not vote for it. … Continue reading →

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Trash fee to pay for Prop B?

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Hard pass. Houston City Councilman Dwight Boykins on Thursday proposed charging property owners a monthly garbage collection fee to finance raises for firefighters while avoiding job cuts for other city staff. Under the proposal, most Houston homeowners would be charged … Continue reading →

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The long range plan for municipal waste

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Something you probably missed (I know I did) from recent City Council action. Last week Houston City Council voted to hire a company that will help local officials create and adopt a long-range waste and recycling plan. This wasn’t all … Continue reading →

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Recycling deal gets a rough reception at Council

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Feisty. Houston City Council members blasted a proposed 20-year recycling deal Tuesday, questioning the $48 million price tag, the process by which the winning bidder was chosen and Turner administration officials’ reluctance to share information about the deal. The proposal … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Brownsville over bag fee

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Of course he does. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is wading into another fight over local control; this one about plastic bags at grocery stores. The Republican on Wednesday sued the city of Brownsville over its $1 per-bag fee, started … Continue reading →

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More options for glass recycling

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Through a new partnership with Strategic Materials Inc., North America’s largest glass recycler, the City of Houston is able to offer residents a more convenient way to recycle glass. “Since the removal of glass from the City’s … Continue reading →

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Trash subsidy will not be trashed

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: After weighing the budgetary impact and obtaining input from City Council, Mayor Sylvester Turner has decided not to pursue elimination of subsidies to homeowners associations that opt out of City trash collection services. Under the program, which … Continue reading →

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Kill that trash subsidy

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Works for me. Mayor Sylvester Turner, working to close a $160 million budget deficit, has proposed scrapping payments that scores of Houston neighborhoods served by private trash haulers receive to help offset the cost of their waste contracts. The idea … Continue reading →

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Storm debris collection begins in Houston neighborhoods

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Beginning Saturday, April 23, 2016 the City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department and private contractors working on the City’s behalf will begin storm debris collection in the single-family neighborhoods impacted by Monday’s flooding. This includes the … Continue reading →

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RIP, One Bin For All

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It had a good run, but at the very least the timing was all wrong. The One Bin For All program would let Houstonians throw all trash in the same bin, to be separated for recycling later. The hope was … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out here on a recycler, part 4

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It was a bad year last year. Recycling continues to hurt Waste Management’s bottom line, as low oil prices and low commodity prices have made that a challenging business for at least the past year. The Houston company on Thursday … Continue reading →

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So what happened to One Bin for All?

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

KUHF asks the question. It has been almost three years since the city won a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies for the One Bin For All concept, which would let Houstonians throw all their waste in one bin, to … Continue reading →

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Landfilling

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story about a place most of us would not think to visit. The open face of the Atascocita landfill in Humble slopes downward, where trucks unload the cast-off scraps of daily life. Bulldozers spread the debris to a … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out here on a recycler, part 3

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

A story in the WaPo about the ongoing struggles of the recycling business. Once a profitable business for cities and private employers alike, recycling in recent years has become a money-sucking enterprise. The District, Baltimore and many counties in between … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out here on a recycler, part 2

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As if they didn’t have enough to deal with. As low commodity prices have left recyclers short on cash to invest in technological upgrades, product manufacturers are coming out with new types of packaging that make business even tougher. These … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out here on a recycler

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Whole lot of not so good in there. When Waste Management bought the plant in 2010 and converted it to handle single-bin recycling, commodity prices were high, the city was on board and Houstonians were eager to recycle. As the … Continue reading →

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Still unclear where One Bin For All stands

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Your guess is as good as mine. The fate of the city’s cutting-edge “one bin” waste system that would feature a privately built, $100 million sorting facility is becoming increasingly uncertain, as sources familiar with the company proposals say there … Continue reading →

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2015 Mayoral manifesto: Quality of life and other issues

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Preliminaries Transportation Public safety A few quick hits on topics that didn’t fit elsewhere. Making Houston affordable again Remember when Houston was an inexpensive place to live? If you haven’t been here at least a decade – more like two … Continue reading →

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Saving money by throwing away less

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Good strategy all around. As a committee mulls an ambitious and controversial “one bin” project that could overhaul recycling and waste collection in Houston, the city’s traditional mode of getting rid of trash just got cheaper. A renegotiated contract with … Continue reading →

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San Antonio has begun curbside recycling of plastic bags

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

As of August 1, to be exact. “We are starting with a new recycling processor that can accept the bags so that allows us to add it to the list of items we can accept,” [Solid Waste Management Department Public … Continue reading →

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It’s past time for a garbage fee

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, this. For years, Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department Director Harry Hayes has suggested the city implement a garbage fee to expand curbside recycling and pay for other initiatives. And for years, Mayor Annise Parker has demurred. Now, with a … Continue reading →

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One Bin For All RFPs

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday was a big day for the One Bin for All proposal. Thursday [was] the deadline for private companies to submit bids to the city to build and run the facility. The bid guidelines call for a 75 percent diversion … Continue reading →

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Another expansion of single stream recycling

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Mayor Annise Parker and Harry J. Hayes, Director of the Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD), are pleased to announce the addition of 62,000 to the City’s popular automated curbside recycling program. As part of the expansion, residents … Continue reading →

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Melanie Scruggs: Ways Houston can increase its recycling rate

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Note: From time to time, I solicit guest posts from various individuals on different topics. While I like to think I know a little something about a lot of things, I’m fortunate to be acquainted with a number of people … Continue reading →

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