The city has been collaborating with the nonprofit the Recycling Partnership since Oct. 23 to study the way people recycle and throw away their trash. The study takes a look at 160 randomly selected households on one of the city's trash and recycling routes and, according to the city and nonprofit, no personal information will be collected or used in any way.
Rob Taylor, vice president of grants and community development, said the nonprofit looks at the waste habits of residents all across the country.
"The goal is to understand the performance of the city's recycling program," Taylor said. "In Houston, specifically, we're looking at how much recyclables are being generated by households, how much of those materials are ending up in the waste, in the recycling, and what else might be ending up inside the recycling containers as well."
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Taylor said the studies can shed light on how residential behaviors impact the recycling of different materials and can help cities better understand how to target their residents with education and outreach materials to make sure their recycling programs are performing well.
This isn't the first time the city has partnered with the Recycling Partnership. In 2021, Houston's Solid Waste Management Department launched a pilot education campaign to improve curbside residential recycling. The campaign sampled 60,000 recycling bins of homes that receive city-provided solid waste services over six months.
If an inspector found someone put a "non-recyclable" or trash in the recycling bin, an "Oops Tag" was attached to their bin. If the cart had "non-accepted" items, such as a hose, batteries or yard waste, the resident would receive a warning tag. If the inspector found other "non-accepted items" in a recycling bin that already had a warning tag, the city would not collect the recycling.
Houston's current collaboration with the Recycling Partnership ends Friday, according to the city.
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