Houston residents are frustrated over recycling delays, with some managing disposal themselves.
HOUSTON — As Houston City Council prepares to hear from the head of the city’s Solid Waste Management Department about ongoing recycling collection delays, residents in some neighborhoods say the issue has led to mounting frustration.
That includes Russell Grones in the city’s Westbury neighborhood who told KHOU 11 his green recycling bin has been sitting in front of his driveway for seven weeks, leaving him to take care of the issue himself.
“I’ve been taking it to the recycling center myself and having to drive down to the beltway to get rid of my recycling,” Grones said. “It takes about 45 minutes round trip to wait in line, sometimes you have to wait in line for an hour to even dump the recycling with it, so, it’s very inconvenient.”
Grones said recycling trucks recently came through to collect bins but missed large swathes of the neighborhood.
While residents like Grones take their waste to disposal centers, others have chosen to just combine it with garbage or just bring the bins in altogether.
“I don’t even put mine out anymore,” Cristal Aldrete told KHOU 11. “It’s just they don’t come by, I don’t ever know when they’re going to come by.”
Aldrete said she prefers to store her bin in her garage, rather than keep it out in the street for an unknown amount of time.
“It’s just you kind of start giving up at some point,” Aldrete said. “But we have all the recycling inside and then just hope for them to one day to come by.”
Mayor John Whitmire told KHOU 11 on Monday the Solid Waste Management Department is undergoing several changes he says will lead to better service.
“The change in administration and out of solid waste is allowing innovation, efficiency,” Whitmire said.
The causes of this summer’s recycling collection delays have been tied to several sources, according to officials. They include issues like holiday scheduling, recent retirements within Solid Waste Management, trucks needing maintenance and there being only one location for trucks to drop off recycling waste for processing.
On Wednesday, SWM Interim Director Larius Hassen is set to deliver a report to City Council on the causes of the delays, progress to catch up to normal scheduling and the wider vision for the department’s service delivery.