Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the weekly Houston City Council meeting in person. We have a new Public Affairs intern at work and I wanted him to watch the Council in action. He had already watched the streaming version for the last two weeks. I also thought it would be a good opportunity for him to meet some of the folks around City Hall.

As luck would have it, we were able to view a presentation by the Solid Waste Department.

I am proud to say that I love city/local government. It is the government that is closest to your home and daily life. One of the most basic services is picking up the garbage. I recall arguing with a very wealthy donor on a political campaign about this very topic. He lived in a neighborhood with private garbage collection. He had no clue that picking up the garbage was such a big deal to people. Well, it is a big deal! Miss a week and you will know how painful it can be.

Over the years, Solid Waste has always been a convenient budget target. We used to have curbside pick-up twice a week. Now, we only have it once a week. There was such an outcry when this happened.

Then we realized that we could save even more money, do good for the planet and reduce our landfill needs if we recycled. The City bought some green bins and distributed them. I have a green bin and so do most of my neighbors. It holds about 3 days of recycling for a busy family. I called the city and requested a second one and was told there was only one per household. Some of my neighbors have two so I inquired how this could be? They confided that they take them when someone moves. Really? People are gaming the system so they can recycle more? Think about that for a minute.

Today is recycling collection in my neighborhood. On my morning walk/jog, I saw many houses with overflowing bins, bags next to them filled with more than the bin would hold and boxes filled with even more. People are trying to do their part.

Meanwhile, the City has purchased a small number of large recycling cans (that will even collect glass) and distributed them to 30,000 households. My friend has one. We had a play date over the holidays and the first thing I said was “I am so jealous of your big recycling can!” She laughed and coyly said, “Oh, you don’t have one. How sad for you”, clearly aware that she possessed a golden treasure.

Mayor and Council, I would very gladly pay $3.50 a month for a big green can. In fact, I currently pay about that much for an extra garbage can. Since that system is already in place, maybe you could purchase just a couple of extra collection trucks as floaters and circulate them to homes with an opt-in system. Please consider this solution.

Houstonians want to be Green!