The HRC’s continued presence is especially odd when one considers that most of the City of Houston’s recycling depositories have removed any signage indicating that “all plastics” would be accepted. The majority of the depositories now seem to only be accepting specific kinds of plastic bottles, with a specific focus on plastic that can be mechanically recycled. For all intents and purposes, it seems like Houston is trying to let this program go and move back to (recycling) business as usual.

So what’s to be done? For one, there needs to be some serious clarity around whether the HRC is officially over, and if it is, organizations like ExxonMobil need to cease from using its logo and name for their purposes. But beyond that, there desperately needs to be more measures in place to prevent another program like the HRC from being brought into existence. Because the HRC was brought into existence via an informal memorandum of understanding that was not publicly debated or reviewed, many members of both the public and Houston City Council remained unaware of the fact that Houstonians’ plastic was being redirected to chemical recycling facilities that were not yet in operation, and, in the meantime, sitting stored in unsafe conditions in open air plastic landfills for the past four years. 

To remedy this issue, Air Alliance Houston is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with Environment Texas to present a Proposition A Initiative that will add much needed transparency to how the City of Houston handles solid waste management. If this measure passes, it would require ANY program that involves the handling of Houstonians’ waste materials to go through a vote via City Council first, rather than allowing new programs, like the HRC, to be created by a small number of people behind closed doors.