RECYCLING OPTIONS

By Ella Tyler

The city of Houston has suspended its curbside recycling for a few more weeks so that those crews and trucks can be devoted to picking up hurricane debris. If you’re one of those people who are convinced that it is a mortal sin to put something that could be recycled in the trash, there are options that don’t require you to keep all that stuff until the city program resumes.

If you like valet parking, you’ll love the recycling center at 5900 Westpark in Houston. It offers deluxe service. When you drive in and turn off the motor, people come to your car and take your stuff away. You don’t even have to sort it. This center takes nearly everything a household would have to recycle – plastic containers; cans; car batteries, motor oil, paint and antifreeze; cardboard; computers and other electronics; glass bottles and jars; all kinds of paper; and used tires. This facility also houses the ReSTORE, which is a book swap, a recycling information library, and a repository for items of post- consumer and post- industrial scrap for use in art projects.

The Westpark facility is easy to get to. It is midway between Chimney Rock and Fountainview/Renwick, just south of the Southwest Freeway. It is open from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday though Saturday.

On the Thursday before Hurricane Ike, I took my recycling to Bellaire’s recycling center, which is at 4402 Edith (at Newcastle). This is a nicely kept facility, with shopping carts to help you take your material in from the car, extra bags for your newspaper, and a trash can for the leftovers. It is open from 8 am to 5 pm every day. Bellaire’s curbside recycling has resumed. For details about what can be deposited there, go online.

The most interesting drop-off spot I’ve encountered is RecycleXpress, the West University center, at 5004 Dincans. This is between Bissonnet and Westpark, a block west of Kirby. This is open 24/7, except that they ask that glass not be deposited between 11 pm and 7 am, so the noise of shattering glass doesn’t disturb the neighbors. What makes it interesting it the diversity of people coming to recycle. Last weekend, where there was a traffic jam, I saw one person arriving on a bicycle, a nicely dressed woman toting her plastic in an Ann Taylor bag, and several children diligently carrying boxes as big as they were. West U’s curbside service is back in operation too.

The HEB stores in my part of town don’t take much recycling, but they do take any kind of plastic bag, including dry cleaner bags. However, the stores that are more suburban have big containers set up to take paper, cans and plastic.

These depositories do not care if you are a resident of their city, but the Houston center does not take anything that is not from a residence.

For information about other recycling depositories in the region see H-GAC’s website or check out Earth 911.