Confused Houston consumers need clarity on what can go into the recycling bin.
Consumers need clarity on what’s acceptable in the recycling bin.
You finish eating berries from a plastic container. A symbol on the bottom of the container shows that it may be recycled. True or False: You should toss it in the green recyclable bin that the city of Houston provides for all residents who receive trash pick-up.
False. The plastic in most berry containers is not dense enough to be recycled under the city’s program.
This is just one example of the confusion surrounding what is recyclable in Houston. Unfortunately, there is no simple one-size-fits-all rules for plastics. Adding to the haze is the ongoing evolution of recycling programs over the past 40 years. We’re better recyclers today, but our inattention and ignorance about what can go in the recycling bin is costing the city money.
Over time, recycling should become a habit — much like putting your seat belt on. But old habits are hard to change. About a fifth or a sixth of the material that we toss in the bin shouldn’t be there — such as plastic bags or greasy pizza boxes — and “tremendously increases the processing cost,” Puneet Bhasin who runs Waste Management’s recycling business told Chronicle reporter Sarah Scully (“Is this the death of recycling?” Page A1, May 10).
The city has placed a list of what can be recycled on its Web site and on the top of its large green bins, and a resident can find a summary of recycling “do”s and “don’t”s on the website of the vendor, Waste Management. But not everyone is paying attention. A spot-check audit system could let residents know what we’re doing right and wrong.
In Oregon, a university adopted a local recycling program a few years ago for study, and volunteers conducted bin audits. If a bin looked good, the inspectors put a green star on it; other bins got an orange star and a reminder listing where the recycler went wrong. A program that gives feedback to residents could help change recycling habits in our area. There’s also room for an app that would identify whether a material is recyclable.
Effective recycling programs have the potential to save taxpayers money because recycling means less waste goes into publicly funded landfills. They also protect the environment by reducing methane emissions from landfills. Although the benefits to the community are clear, commodity prices have taken a dive, and waste management companies are finding that the costs of sorting and processing the material can exceed sales proceeds.
The precarious state of the industry makes it more urgent for the city and private companies to invest up front to educate consumers.
One day, the question of whether something is recyclable or not may be moot. The city is considering an advanced, one-bin system that would allow residents to put everything — waste and recyclables — into one bin and let technology do the sorting. But the proposal is still under review, and if approved, wouldn’t be implemented for a few years.
Right now, the city and its vendors need to ramp up their educational efforts, and residents need to use available tools to learn to recycle the right way.
Effective recycling programs have the potential to save taxpayers money because recycling means less waste goes into publicly funded landfills.