The City of Houston is currently considering entering into a long-term agreement with a recycling partner to expand its recycling programs to more neighborhoods and divert more waste from local landfills. The agreement and recycling partner are being chosen through a competitive bidding process, and TCE is working to make sure City officials choose the best proposal for Houston residents.

To read more see:

No-bid recycling contract could get held up
The long-term recycling deal

As recently as 2005, Houston’s recycling rate was less than 5% -- one of the lowest in the country. Since then Houston has been making huge strides in this area and now recycles about a quarter of its waste. However, Houston can – and must – do much better. Currently, only about 25% of Houston residents have access recycling programs. Houston officials have set a goal of providing single-stream curbside recycling for every single-family home in Houston, but even more work needs to be done to provide those same services to multi-family units.

Recycling our resources creates at least ten times as many jobs as dumping our waste in landfills. Waste and landfills contribute to climate change, as it takes much more energy to create products from virgin materials than from recycled feedstock.
Click here to learn more about waste and climate change.

TCE advocates for a much more expansive approach to recycling that would extend services to everyone including multi-family units. Austin and San Antonio have recently enacted ordinances to include apartments in their recycling programs, and Houston should do the same.

TCE believes that the long-term solution to Houston's waste problem should be a "Zero Waste" policy. Advocates of Zero Waste do not expect there to be no waste at all, but the idea is to divert at least 90% of waste from our landfills. The City of Austin became the first in Texas do adopt a Zero Waste goal, and Dallas has taken the first steps toward adopting theirs as well. Houston should follow suit!

But until Houston gets there, if you are looking for a way to recycle at home please see this list of recycling centers near you.