Recycling service poised to restart
Second pass of debris cleanup should free up more trucks
Houstonians who have been dragging their overflowing recycling bins to the curb every other week only to roll them back again untouched finally should have their cartons and cans hauled off early next month, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday.
City crews and scores of private contractors have trucked more than 1 million cubic yards of Hurricane Harvey debris to area landfills, the mayor said, and are nearing completion on the first of three planned passes to pick up storm waste from thousands of lawns.
That soon should free up city recycling trucks to resume normal collection schedules after suspending the curbside service in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and the widespread flood-
ing it caused, Turner said.
“We’re hoping that we can start picking up the green bins in the month of November, hopefully the first week,” Turner said after the City Council meeting. “We’ll see how things are going, but based on the pace that things are proceeding, we’re thinking we can speed that process up. That’s the plan.”
Just weeks after scrambling to increase the rates he was paying waste haulers to lure more trucks into service, Turner proclaimed that storm debris pickup was “ahead of schedule.” The mayor said some haulers have called him to say they are leaving town because debris piles now are too limited and scattered for them to make money.
The city began storm debris cleanup Aug. 30, and now projects that crews will complete a second pass by Dec. 1. The latest estimate for the debris removal cost tops $260 million. Houston taxpayers are on the hook for a tenth of debris costs; federal disaster funds will cover the rest.
“The debris will continue to come out. This process will continue over several months,” Turner said. “I’m very, very proud of what’s taken place.”
Solid Waste Director Harry Hayes said it is possible recycling rates may lag until residents return to normal habits. However, he said it is important the city not rush to resume recycling pickup while flood victims still are using their green bins as backup trash containers, stuffing them with rotted drywall and warped floorboards.
“When we have events like this — and, unfortunately since 2015, I believe this is our third event where we’ve kind of had to suspend recycling … it does impact people,” Hayes said. “Folks understand where we are and what we’re trying to do, and once we restart it we’re going to grow it just like we always have in the past.”
He declined to set a precise timeline for the removal of the rest of Harvey’s wreckage, acknowledging remaining passes will be harder, and more dependent on the behavior of residents.
Hayes asked residents to check on neighbors whose homes clearly took on water but may not have removed many belongings. The city can send volunteers to the homes of residents whose age or health prevents them from cleaning and gutting their homes themselves, he noted.
“It’s a lifetime of people’s memories. They’re every emotional about it,” he said.
Rosanne Barone, of Texas Campaign for the Environment, said she expects residents to simply return to the recycling habits they employed before the storm.
The greater concern for her organization is that storm debris is not being sorted sufficiently to prevent the risks of groundwater or airborne contamination from mold or other factors. Gov. Greg Abbott waived a number of environmental regulations in the wake of the storm, some related to waste disposal.
“There’s concern that the debris is contaminated, both from mold as it sat in people’s homes for a while, and, if you’re tearing out a house that is several decades old, that the insulation would contain asbestos, and that’s all going into construction and demolition landfills,” Barone said. “But, to me, that’s hazardous waste.”