Houston Chronicle
By Rebecca Elliott
Waste Management employees work quickly to remove non recyclable materials from a conveyor belt filled with recyclable garbage Thursday November 20, 2014 at the Waste Management Recycling Facility in Southwest Houston, TX. (Billy Smith II / Houston Chronicle)
HOUSTON — Houston residents are set to have their used glass and plastic bags picked up for recycling at curbside, but not until next year.
The 20-year, $37 million agreement City Council approved Wednesday is the product of two years of wrangling over recycling and positions Houston to pay less per ton to recycle.
Houstonians still have to wait another 14 months before putting bottles or bags in their green curbside bins, however, while the city’s chosen contractor builds a new processing facility.
“From a financial point of view, it is a much better deal for the city of Houston,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said, praising the deal with the Spanish firm FCC. “In terms of technology, it meets what our needs are and what we have asked for.”
Recycling has been a source of contention since Turner took office two years ago, when plunging commodities markets made recycling more expensive.
To address longer-term recycling needs, Turner last June brought forward a 20-year, $48 million proposal from FCC.
However, fierce criticism of the procurement process led the mayor to seek a new round of offers.
FCC again came out on top, this time with a cheaper proposal: Houston would pay a maximum of $19 per ton to process recyclables in a weak commodities market, and would recover a larger share of the revenue if prices for recycled material improved.
Still, some council members questioned the city’s evaluation processes, which put FCC on top even though other firms argued they would have been ready to process materials sooner and cheaper.
At-large Councilman Mike Knox reiterated some of those worries Wednesday before voting against the $37 million FCC contract.
“I would just like to see this whole thing start over from the beginning and do it properly. Much of the scoring on both the first and second go-arounds was subjective in nature,” Knox said. “I just don’t believe that this is the right thing to do in this manner.”
At-large Councilman Michael Kubosh and District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig joined Knox in opposing the deal. District F Councilman Steve Le, District G Councilman Greg Travis and District J Councilman Mike Laster were absent for the vote.
Turner defended the recycling procurement as “more rigorous” than usual.
“We just didn’t go with the first round. We went back for a best and final the second round,” he said. “The first round — pretty much all of the information was put out in public, so we asked people to bid against themselves.”
District E Councilman Dave Martin, who previously complained about a lack of transparency in the procurement process, came around in time for the vote.
“I think it’s probably the most economically feasible deal for the city of Houston,” Martin said.
Meanwhile, Rosanne Barone, Houston program director for the advocacy group Texas Campaign for the Environment, lauded the city for “heading in the right direction” on recycling.
“This shows the mayor is committed to continuing moving forward to make the city of Houston more sustainable. We’re so happy glass is going to be back, and so happy and surprised and excited that plastic bags are now going to be included,” Barone said. “The next step is just to keep moving forward: To keep including more materials, to expand curbside pickup to apartments and businesses.”
Its agreement with FCC finalized, the city now is working to renegotiate an agreement with Waste Management, its current curbside recycling provider, to continue picking up recyclables until FCC’s facility is operational.
“I’m hoping that it won’t significantly increase,” Turner said of Houston’s recycling costs during that time. “We’re negotiating. We’ll see what happens.”
Mike Morris contributed to this report
Tags: gulf coast, recycling and zero waste
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