With more than 1 million cubic yards of debris picked up from Hurricane Harvey, Houston Solid Waste Management is eyeing November to resume curbside recycling pickup in the city, Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The city suspended pickup of the green bins on August 30 as it prepared for the disaster cleanup of more than 8 million cubic yards of debris. On Wednesday, Turner announced that Solid Waste and its contractors had finished the first pass for Harvey debris at a sooner-than-expected pace and that recycling could resume the first week of November.
“Based on the pace those things are proceeding, we’re thinking we can speed that process up,” Turner said.
Debris pickup is performed in three passes, meaning trucks visit neighborhoods three times to pick up the trash ruined by floodwaters. The first pass served mostly homeowners who were able to immediately gut their homes of the heavy debris items like stoves, refrigerators and couches. Turner noted that “with few exceptions,” Solid Waste and its trucks have completed pickups in almost every corner of the city.
The subsequent passes will pick up any missed items as well as the trash that comes after residents begin to repair their homes. Turner said the second pass is expected to take 60 days and to end by December 1.
This article appears in 2017 Best of Houston.
