Wastebasket blues: Houston doesn't recycle enough garbage … - Houston Chronicle

Less service, higher cost," was the damning refrain last year when City Council considered imposing a garbage collection fee. Yet Houston might be alone in wholly depending on its general fund — which pays for fire and police protection — to bear the cost of garbage pickup. A spokesman for Mayor Bill White's office said the percentage of garbage recycled in Houston will go up this October, when wood-and-lawn clipping recycling could boost recycling rates to 20 percent. But if "Houston culture" truly cannot muster the civic responsibility for its trash that every other city accepts, it's up to city leaders to find alternatives. Houston, where some neighborhoods recycle only 2 percent of their trash, doesn't have the cash in its general fund for diesel trucks and personnel to trawl block after block where the recycle bins are empty. read more

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