Houston's Recycling crisis

[Benjamin Craft-Rendon]

Hey y'all, in case you hadn't heard, Houston may be 'suspending' recycling pick-up for 'a few years until the commodity prices go up.' This would maximize waste going to landfills that are placed in PoC neighbourhoods, and leave them to deal with the resulting pollution.

Some of us with Zero Waste Houston are going to testify Tuesday and invite everyone to testify on Tuesday at 2pm if you can! (call 832-393-1100 to register to speak 1-3 minutes). Here’s what we know:

 

·         Yes, supports recycling: Mayor Turner, Council Member Jerry Davis, Karla Cisneros, Jack Christie

·         Probably yes: Ellen Cohen, Amanda Edwards, David Robinson

·         No, or a very likely no: Mike Knox, Greg Travis

·         Probable no: Dave Martin, Steve Le

·         Maybe: Laster, Brenda Stardig, Dwight Boykins, Larry Green, Kubosh

At the bottom are some talking point ideas and a blog post from Texas Campaign for the Environment:

 

Why recycling “isn’t garbage” that has some good points as well: https://www.texasenvironment.org/debunking-the-new-york-times-recycling-isnt-garbage/

 

 

From: Melanie Scruggs
Subject: Recycling

 

Our perspective is that we cannot suspend recycling to send all of Houston’s trash to a landfill for any period of time because that would eliminate the environmental benefits we receive from recycling those resources! It would make it very inconvenient and less energy efficient for people who refuse to NOT recycle to deliver their recyclables to one of the few drop-off locations we have available. According to the Solid Waste Department it would likely be more expensive in the long-run for the city to “re-enter the market” to provide recycling services again when the commodity prices improve, which we believe they inevitably will.

 

We think the contract being considered should be approved because it allows the city to re-negotiate the cost in a relatively short term, four years, as opposed to a longer contract of 10-25 years that are common in some waste contracts and that would have locked the city into the low commodity prices.

 

We believe that we should be thinking longer-term and dreaming bigger. Houston needs to follow the example of major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Austin, San Antonio and even Dallas, all of which have published long-term plans to reduce landfill waste by 60-90% and have set “Zero Waste” goals. San Antonio and Austin both have curbside composting, and we should be in the position to also pilot such a program, not go backwards to less overall recycling.

 

We think a Zero Waste vision for Houston is necessary for environmental justice and protecting diverse neighborhoods’ from further pollution and illegal dumping, diversifying the economy into sustainable industries and creating jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, attracting people to live in Houston who expect a high quality of public services that let people live sustainable lifestyles, and conserving resources. See one of our “Zero Waste Houston” coalition letters here: https://www.texasenvironment.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ZWH-Letter-Jan.-2016.pdf

 

It should also be noted that the City Council approved “Plan Houston” last year which includes support for recycling and would not suggest that abandoning or suspending curbside recycling to be a viable option in line with our collective vision. See Plan Houston’s strategies here: http://planhouston.org/strategies/protect-and-conserve-our-resources

 

The City has already invested so much in the program. The fact that any of the Council members would consider cutting it over alternative ways to save funds is very disappointing, but I think it gives the environmental community a chance to demonstrate that keeping Houston moving in the right environmental direction is and should be a priority.

 

I hope that helps in terms of how we view the issue. If there’s anything that Houston’s broad environmental community can agree on, we hope it’s curbside recycling! Thank you, and I’m happy to help in any other ways. Our objectives at this point, as Philippa may have said, are turning out speakers on Tuesday, generating phone calls and emails through our petition link to City Council members from the community and community leaders. I am so happy to hear that Keep Houston Beautiful is engaged on this as well!

 

Melanie Scruggs
Houston Program Director, Texas Campaign for the Environment

713-337-4192 (o) | www.texasenvironment.org

3100 Richmond Ave. Suite 290 | Houston, TX 77098