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Are We Going Backwards?
Recycling services hit tough times as residents toss trash in recycling bins
The volunteers of Keep Kingwood Green have been educating and advocating for better recycling services for over ten years. Slowly our City, our schools, and waste service providers have jumped in to add and improve recycling saving tons of materials from going to the landfill each day.
Today, commodity prices are very low and the economics of recycling only work if the items we put in the bins are clean and the bins are not contaminated.
At our schools, about half of the material that is put in the single stream bins is trash that must be separated out and then landfilled. This has made the bins that have been open to the public unprofitable. The schools will now have to pay if the bins are severely contaminated.
Your tax dollars are spent to educate our children, and not to pay for trash removal for residents or businesses that are unwilling to pay for a service. Soon the bins will be locked and the service will no longer be available to the public. As the saying goes, “A few bad apples, have ruined a great service”.
At the Metro lot the weekend recycling is a service of the City. Many people are still putting the wrong items in the bins. The metal bin is for cans and other small metal items. The sorting equipment can not deal with plastic bags, lawn chairs, and other contamination. The cardboard bin is for flattened cardboard. Last weekend someome put a number of rolls of carpet into it. Those kinds of expenses make recycling unsustainable to the City.
Will they continue to offer the service if it becomes a financial burden?
Help make an impact on the problem, and recycle the right material.
If you have questions about what goes into your bin or a public bin, call your recycling company and ask them. Or, send us an e-mail at info@keepkingwoodgreen.org and we will answer your question or find the answer for you.
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No Electronic Recycling July 4th
The City and Compucycle have been working together for 3 ½ years collecting and recycling our electronics at the Kingwood Metro lot on the first Saturday of every month.
In that time 394 tons of electronics have been recycled and saved from the landfill. As we understand it, the City has been paying 10 cents a pound for Compucycle to pick up the TV”s. TV’s are expensive to recycle due to lead in the glass. They are considered a hazardous waste. It is illegal to dump them or put them in the landfill.
We now hear that the City no longer wants to pay Compucycle for this service for the Kingwood and Clear Lake monthly pick up service.
Cutting the Compucycle payment for no reason will practically kill e-cycling availability in Kingwood and Clear Lake.
We hope they are still in negotiations over this issue and service will resume in August. Compucycle tells us they would love to continue the Kingwood monthly pick up but cannot afford to process the TV’s without some compensation.
What do you think? Should the City continue to offer this monthly service in Kingwood?
Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee to get rid of your old TV?
Stay tuned! We will let you know what will or will not happen on August 1st. There are alternatives but none of them are as convenient at the monthly pick up at Metro.
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Use the Harris County Hazardous Waste Facility
The City of Houston offers a BOPA program in Kingwood twice a year. This is the collection of latex paints, oils, anti freeze and batteries. The next event is scheduled for October 31 from 9 am to 1 pm. These programs are expensive costing lots of tax dollars.
Two questions we always get are: If I live in the county can I use the City’s BOPA? A second question deals with other hazardous materials which cannot be taken at a BOPA.
If you live outside the city limits in Harris County you can take almost any hazardous materials to the County facility which is located at 6900 Hahl Road (Rt. 290 and Gessner). We recently toured the facility and it is impressive but a long drive. Due to the distance, we recommend you collect all your items and maybe even those from a neighbor before you make the trip.
However, if you have twenty cans of paint in the garage that have been there for years, it is worth the trip. They tell us they will take just about anything. You can go to their web site for details on when they are open and what they will take.
If you have taken things to the City sponsored BOPA and they have rejected items that they are not authorized to take, you can take them to one of the two City Environmental Service Centers.
While none of these facilities are convenient for the average Lake Houston area resident, they are the only approved way for you to get rid of these types of hazardous substances. Please do not take the easy way out and hide them in your trash!
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Recycle at the the Town Center July 4th Celebration
Many residents will be celebrating the 4th of July in Town Center Park in Kingwood.
Keep Kingwood Green along with several area businesses will be providing recycling services in the Park. Please use the recycling bins if you go there!
A big thank you to Local Print Solutions, the Alspaughs Bunch, and The Eunice Dennis Team at ReMax Realty for stepping forward, sponsoring our bins to help save all the cans and bottles from going to the landfill.
Do you know that the aluminum can that you recycle there may be back on the shelf as a new can in as little as sixty days? Please remember to only put cans and bottles into these recycle bins. Thank you!
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How Can You Give Feedback or Ask Questions?
Visit our web site!
Email: info@keepkingwoodgreen.org
We also maintain a Facebook page. Like us or Follow us!
Call us 713-206-0558 and leave a message. One of our volunteers will get back to you as fast as possible.
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