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Houston residential recycling expanding


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The city is poised to expand its automated recycling program to an additional 50,000 households, allowing roughly 1 in 5 Houstonians the opportunity to put paper, plastic, soda cans and glass into one wheeled trash-can-sized bin instead of a garbage can.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6839028.html

Related - my neighborhood has curbside recycling (little bins) and I was wondering what the eligibility is to have it since I know not all areas do..

The reason I ask is because at least on my street (and i can only guess about the other ones...) there are maybe two recycling bins ever out for pick up as far as I can see (one being mine). In that respect my area is definitely not worth the city's while for pick up. That being said, how can you promote recycling to neighbors who don't seem to give a damn?

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http://www.chron.com...ro/6839028.html

Related - my neighborhood has curbside recycling (little bins) and I was wondering what the eligibility is to have it since I know not all areas do..

The reason I ask is because at least on my street (and i can only guess about the other ones...) there are maybe two recycling bins ever out for pick up as far as I can see (one being mine). In that respect my area is definitely not worth the city's while for pick up. That being said, how can you promote recycling to neighbors who don't seem to give a damn?

Anyone know which neighborhoods they are adding?

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http://www.chron.com...ro/6839028.html

Related - my neighborhood has curbside recycling (little bins) and I was wondering what the eligibility is to have it since I know not all areas do..

The reason I ask is because at least on my street (and i can only guess about the other ones...) there are maybe two recycling bins ever out for pick up as far as I can see (one being mine). In that respect my area is definitely not worth the city's while for pick up. That being said, how can you promote recycling to neighbors who don't seem to give a damn?

I'm with you. We put out three bins each collection day (for two people), and I'm amazed if half-a-dozen other homes on my block put anything out. It's just sad, even those with little kids don't recycle, and that just seems like bad parenting to me. I have often thought about putting in multiple 311 requests to have bins delivered to my neighbors homes, but I'm not sure if they would get the hint.

Recently, the Chron published a table with recycling rates by neighborhood, and IIRC Eastwood wasn't great, but it wasn't in danger of losing its curbside recycle ability. Still, the percentage was pathetic and I can only hope that the large bins will make it easier on the lazy people, so that they will recycle more.

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  • 1 month later...

Just got a notice today that we're getting 96 gallon cans for this program starting in April. I'm pleasantly surprised. I figured the inner loop would be covered before they got this far west. Or has this already rolled out in most of the city?

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We received a letter from CoH announcing that our neighborhood (Oak Forest area) will be added to the automated recycle program. So looks like the program is expanding. I hadn't heard anything about it till the mail arrived today. Our collection starts first week of April.

yippie! Can't wait to receive and make good use of the bigger glass-accepting recycle bin.

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Idylwood has had the large bins since last fall. There is an incentive reward type program attached to the new bins. You'll get a mailer with your very own registration number, tied to your address, and supposedly the trucks will weigh the amount of your recycling. Payoff is gift cards and merchandise from various places. CiCi's Pizza, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, Amazon.com, and Foot Locker are some that are mentioned.

I don't know of anyone who has cashed in yet but participation on my street has tripled over the number who used the little green tubs.

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I am jealous too - and I'd love to be able to put glass curbside.

I've been looking the last few recycling pickup days and yep, I'm about the only one on the block and probably freaking neighborhood. The only other person that put out a bin put it out on the wrong week last time :(

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I'm trying to find out if Eastwood is on the list. Broadmoor has the big bins, at least as far as I could see on the streets that intersect Dumble near Austin High, but nada on my side of Telephone Rd.

I want a big bin!

It looks like most of the residents on my street in Broadmoor like the big bins and make good use of them. However, the month-to-month tenants in the crappy multi-family rentals can't be bothered with learning the rules and put them out weekly, stuffed to overflowing with regular garbage. Plus, they sit in the street for days! Unfortunately, the tenants no hablan ingles, so someone tried to talk to one of the landlords about the situation. He doesn't live in the neighborhood and doesn't give a rat's rear end about anything but collecting rent.

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Yes! I got the magic letter in the mail today. We're getting a big bin. Being able to put the glass in it is a huge bonus. I admit, I've been throwing away all the beer bottles, rather than bringing them to a recycling center. I will feel like a much better latte-drinking, New-York-Times-reading pinko liberal now that I can recycle properly.

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My part of Eastwood got the letter today...starts April 5. We are SO excited. We currently put out three of the 18-gallon bins every two weeks, and can't wait to get that big ol' 96-gallon baby. The only downside IMO will be dealing with those neighbors who aren't good about taking their cans back in. Guess I will have to add that to my list of block duties!

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You will probably find that the amount of stuff to be recycled expands to fill the available space. We used to have two of the small bins, and were constantly having to stack cardboard and other recyclables out by the bins after we'd filled them to overflowing. We've had one of the big wheeled bins for quite some time now, and by the end of two weeks it's full more often than not. We don't really have much glass to recycle, so that can't account for the increased volume.

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I've always been curious as to just how the different types of recyclables get separated once the truck gets to the 'recycle yard'.

I mean, you can hear all the glass breaking as the green cans get dumped into the truck. How do they manage all that broken glass? Is there any human involvement or is it all automated?

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You will probably find that the amount of stuff to be recycled expands to fill the available space. We used to have two of the small bins, and were constantly having to stack cardboard and other recyclables out by the bins after we'd filled them to overflowing. We've had one of the big wheeled bins for quite some time now, and by the end of two weeks it's full more often than not. We don't really have much glass to recycle, so that can't account for the increased volume.

I got on the RecycleBank's website last night to learn more about the rebate program. And then we theorized on the heaviest types of recycled material that would garner the largest rebate. Glass, of course! so I guess our red wine intake will exponentially increase. Hey, red wine is good for you!

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I got on the RecycleBank's website last night to learn more about the rebate program. And then we theorized on the heaviest types of recycled material that would garner the largest rebate. Glass, of course! so I guess our red wine intake will exponentially increase. Hey, red wine is good for you!

Yay, got our letter today!!

I don't know if it's even physically possible to increase my red wine intake exponentially, but I will have to give it the old college try. Very happy about having glass pick-up now.

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Slightly OT..

I have looked and haven't found - does anyone know what it takes to get kicked out of the regular recycling program or where neighborhood stats are?

I remember neighborhood usage stats being reported in a Chron article last year, but never found them on the COH website.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Received our big wheeled green recycle bins yesterday! Can't wait to just load it up and close the lid. We also registered the bin so we earn points of some sort. I guess it surprises me that they need an incentive program to get people to recycle.

I think they added the whole Candlelight Estates neighborhood but it's a little curious that the Oak Forest neighborhoods adjacent to us did not receive the new bins.

Our newspapers and junk mail would often blow out of the crates and we'd have a big pick-up session of all the paper blown around the neighborhood. hurray for an enclosed receptacle.

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Received our big wheeled green recycle bins yesterday! Can't wait to just load it up and close the lid. We also registered the bin so we earn points of some sort. I guess it surprises me that they need an incentive program to get people to recycle.

I think they added the whole Candlelight Estates neighborhood but it's a little curious that the Oak Forest neighborhoods adjacent to us did not receive the new bins.

Our newspapers and junk mail would often blow out of the crates and we'd have a big pick-up session of all the paper blown around the neighborhood. hurray for an enclosed receptacle.

Did they knock at your door and ask for the little green bins back or just drop a big bin at each address?

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